• 


tlllfffillfl? 


Jeffery  ^4mherst 


AMHERST     BEFORE     MONTREAL 


Jeffery  ^4mherst 


A  BIOGRAPHY 


BY 

LAWRENCE    SHAW   MAYO 


LONGMANS,    GREEN   AND    CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &f  3OTH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

LONDON,    BOMBAY,    CALCUTTA,    AND    MADRAS 

1916 


COPYRIGHT,     1916 
BY    LAWRENCE    SHAW    MAYO 


THE  -PLIMPTON  -PRESS 

NOR  W  ODD-MASS  -U-S-A 


TO 
MY     MOTHE  R 


34C2C3 


PREFACE 

\VHEN  Othello  was  about  to  end  his  troubled 
career  he  exhorted  those  in  attendance, 

"7  pray  you,  in  your  letters, 
When  you  shall  these  unlucky  deeds  relate, 
Speak  of  me  as  I  am;  nothing  extenuate, 
Nor  set  down  aught  in  malice." 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  in  these  few 
words  Shakespeare  formulated  a  guiding-rule  for 
all  who  would  assume  the  responsibilities  of  writ 
ing  biography,  and  upon  this  principle,  therefore, 
the  following  unvarnished  tale  has  been  prepared. 
Jeffery  Amherst  was  human  and,  like  the  rest  of 
us,  possessed  faults  as  well  as  virtues:  otherwise 
he  would  have  been  far  less  interesting.  Britain 
associates  his  name  with  the  conquest  of  Canada, 
and  America  connects  it  with  an  institution  of 
learning  in  the  fairest  region  of  New  England,  yet 
the  man's  personality  has  been  ever  inscrutable. 
The  ensuing  pages  may  throw  more  light  on  the 
subject,  and  I  confidently  hope  that  my  attempt 
to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth,  may  in  no  way  tend  to  dim  the  lustre 
of  "  a  name  known  to  fame  in  days  of  yore." 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
April,  1915. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

PAGE 

I. 

BIRTH,  FAMILY,  AND  ENVIRONMENT     . 

-      •         3 

II. 

EARLY  CAMPAIGNS      

.      .         8 

III. 

THE  SEVEN  YEARS'  WAR     .... 

•      •       24 

IV. 

WILLIAM  PITT       

•      •       43 

V. 

LOUISBURG       

.      .       66 

VI. 

BETWEEN  Two  CAMPAIGNS 

•      •       94 

VII. 

TlCONDEROGA    

.        120 

VIII. 

LAKE  CHAMPLAIN       

146 

IX. 

MONTREAL       

.        .       I/O 

X. 

SIR  JEFFERY  AMHERST,  KT. 

192 

XI. 

PONTIAC'S  WAR     

.        .       213 

XII. 

FAVOR  AND  DISFAVOR     

•        •       H3 

XIII. 

THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION     . 

.        .       270 

XIV. 

THE  BOURBON  ARMADA        .... 

2QS 

XV. 

LAST  YEARS     

•        •       3H 

INDEX 

32Q 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Amherst  before  Montreal Frontispiece 

From  a  mezzotint  of  the  painting  by  Reynolds. 

Jeffery  Amherst Facing  page       38 

From  an  engraving  of  a  sketch  by  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  in  the  possession  of  E.  M. 
Whitcomb,  Esq.,  of  Amherst,  Mass. 

Louisburg  in  1758 76 

There  is  a  copy  of  this  engraving  in  the  John 
Carter  Brown  Library  at  Providence. 

Crown  Point  and  Lake  Champlain 146 

Photographed  in  September,  1912. 

The  Obelisk  at  "Montreal" 248 

From  a  photograph. 

"Montreal'1  in  1778 280 

From  The  Universal  Magazine,  November,  1778. 

The  Death  of  Chatham 294 

From  an  engraving  of  Copley's  well-known 
painting. 


Jeffery  ^4mherst 


Jejfery  Ambers t 


CHAPTER  I 

BIRTH,    FAMILY,    AND    ENVIRONMENT 

JEFFERY  AMHERST  was  born  at  Riverhead,  a 
pleasant  village  in  the  parish  of  Sevenoaks,  Kent, 
on  January  29,  1717.  He  was  the  second  son 
of  Jeffery  Amherst  and  Elizabeth  Kerril,  both  of  whom 
came  of  Kentish  stock.  The  family  was  well-to-do 
and  lived  in  an  old  mansion  called  "Brook's  Place." 
In  this  house  Jeffery  was  born  and  grew  up.  His 
ancestors  had  lived  and  died  in  Kent  ever  since  the 
days  of  Runnymede  and  the  Magna  Charta,  and  from 
the  reign  of  Richard  II  the  genealogy  is  easily  traced 
to  a  Reverend  Jeffery  Amherst  who  was  the  rector  of 
Horsemonden,  —  a  parish  near  Tunbridge  Wells,  —  in 
the  time  of  the  Commonwealth.1  The  reftor  was  the 
great-great-grandfather  of  our  Jeffery;  he  died  in  1662. 
His  grandson,  another  Jeffery  Amherst,  was  a  member 
of  Parliament  just  after  the  Glorious  Revolution,  and 
both  he  and  his  son,  the  grandfather  and  the  father  of 
our  Jeffery,  were  barristers. 

Of  the  nine  or  ten  children  born  to  Jeffery  Amherst 

1  Ritchie  and  Evans's  Lord  Amherst,  p.  9. 


4  JEFFERr  AMHERST 

and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Kerril,  five  grew  to  maturity,  — 
Sackville,  Jeffery,  John,  William,  and  their  sister 
Elizabeth.  Sackville,  the  eldest,  led  an  obscure  life, 
but  his  name  is  interesting  for  it  indicates  the  long 
association  of  the  Amherst  family  with  the  Sackvilles, 
Earls  of  Dorset,  who  had  belonged  to  the  peerage  since 
the  first  decade  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  The  first 
Earl  of  Dorset,  when  Lord  Treasurer  of  England,  had 
employed  one  Richard  Amherst  as  his  steward.  In 
later  times  our  Jeffery  Amherst's  father  was  a  neighbor 
of  Lionel  Cranfield  Sackville,  the  first  Duke  of  Dorset, 
whose  seat,  "Knole,"  was  very  near  Riverhead.  This 
proximity  of  residence  led  to  an  intimacy  between  the 
families  which  became  a  large  factor  in  the  rise  of 
Jeffery  the  son,  and  was  also  an  influence  in  the  career 
of  the  Duke's  notorious  offspring,  Lord  George  Germain. 
John  Amherst,  who  was  about  a  year  younger  than 
Jeffery,  turned  his  energies  to  a  naval  life  with  no  small 
amount  of  success.  He  began  his  career  as  a  mid 
shipman  in  the  Mediterranean  fleet  under  Admirals 
Haddock  and  Mathews,  became  a  captain  before  he  was 
thirty,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years'  War 
was  in  command  of  the  "Deptford"  of  48  guns,  one  of 
the  fleet  with  which  the  unfortunate  Admiral  Byng 
sailed  to  attempt  the  relief  of  Minorca  in  the  spring  of 
1756.  Two  years  later  he  was  in  American  waters 
where  his  ship  formed  part  of  the  squadron  under 
Boscawen  which  made  possible  his  brother's  first  great 
achievement,  the  capture  of  Louisburg.  Towards 
the  end  of  his  life  he  was  made  Vice-Admiral  of  the 
Blue,  and  Rear-Admiral  of  the  White. 


BIRTH  AND  FAMILY  5 

Probably  Jeffery's  favorite  brother  was  William, 
who  was  his  junior  by  about  fifteen  years.  During 
the  French  and  Indian  War  he  was  one  of  Amherst's 
aides-de-camp,  and  distinguished  himself  in  America 
by  recapturing  Newfoundland  from  the  French  in 
1762.  After  his  return  to  England,  William  com 
manded  a  fort  on  the  Channel  for  a  while  and  then 
was  elected  to  Parliament.  His  military  training, 
combined  with  his  brother's  influence,  brought  him 
numerous  sinecures.  In  the  army  he  attained  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-general;  and  when,  in  1774,  the 
office  of  lieutenant-governor  of  Newfoundland  became 
vacant,  it  was  appropriately  given  to  him  who  had 
regained  the  island  for  the  British  Empire  twelve 
years  before. 

The  England  into  which  JefFery  Amherst  was  born 
was  the  England  of  George  I.  In  northern  Europe 
the  meteoric  Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  at  whose  name 
the  world  turned  pale,  plunged  into  war  with  Nor 
way  in  1717  and  a  year  later  fell  dead  before  the 
fortress  of  Fredriksten.  At  home  the  ascendancy  of 
the  Whigs  had  already  been  established  by  the  Elec 
tor  of  Hanover  who  so  miraculously  acceded  to  the 
English  throne  without  domestic  or  foreign  disturb 
ance.  The  Old  Pretender,  to  be  sure,  landed  in 
Scotland  in  the  winter  of  1715-16;  but  soon  after 
wards  returned  discomfited  to  France.  The  Whigs, 
to  secure  their  control  of  the  ship  of  state,  had  passed 
the  Septennial  Act,  whereby  they  continued  them 
selves  as  members  of  Parliament  for  four  years  more 
than  their  electors  expected,  and  securely  fortified 


6  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  Protestant  succession.  As  George  I  was  but  a  pup 
pet  in  their  hands,  —  understanding  the  English  Con 
stitution  about  as  much  as  he  understood  the  English 
language,  —  this  meant  the  establishment  of  the  Whig 
oligarchy  as  the  real  power  in  England.  For  twenty 
years  this  power  was  personified  in  Walpole. 

In  literature  the  England  of  1717  witnessed  the 
sunset  of  the  Augustan  age.  Addison's  course  was 
almost  run,  while  Steele  and  Swift  still  plied  their 
powerful  pens.  Defoe  was  turning  his  thoughts  from 
politics  to  adventure,  and  Pope  busied  himself  with 
the  last  volume  of  his  translation  of  the  "Iliad." 
It  was  the  end  of  the  period  which  preceded  the 
reign  of  Thomson's  "Seasons"  and  Young's  "Night 
Thoughts." 

In  1721  Walpole  became  Prime  Minister  of  England 
and  began  his  wise  policy  of  conserving  the  country's 
wealth  and  energy  until  a  sufficiently  valid  cause 
demanded  their  expenditure  in  a  vigorous  and  profit 
able  war.  But  England  was  neither  as  wise  nor  as 
patient  as  the  great  man  at  the  helm,  and  after  twenty 
years  of  peace  and  prosperity  the  country  followed 
the  counsels  of  less  sagacious  ministers  and  became 
involved  in  the  inglorious  War  of  the  Austrian  Suc 
cession.  Though  Walpole  fell  and  though  his  simple 
truth  was  miscalled  simplicity,  the  good  that  he  had 
done  lived  after  him,  for  in  those  two  decades  of 
patient  service  he  laid  the  financial  foundation  upon 
which  Pitt  was  destined  to  erect  an  empire.  Of  this 
empire  Pitt  was  to  be  the  architect  and  Amherst 
and  Clive  the  master  builders. 


BIRTH  AND  FAMILY  7 

Looking  forward  for  a  moment  we  see  that  during 
the  period  of  Walpole's  supremacy  Jeffery  Amherst 
was  growing  to  manhood;  during  the  fifteen  years 
of  mediocrity  that  followed,  he  assisted  in  one  igno 
minious  campaign  after  another;  and  it  was  only  when 
William  Pitt  came  into  his  own  that  Amherst  knew 
the  joys  of  victory  and  fame  culminating  in  the  con 
quest  of  Canada  in  1760. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY   CAMPAIGNS 

SOCIAL  usage  of  eighteenth-century  England 
prescribed  the  profession  of  arms  as  the  only 
proper  pursuit  for  a  second  son,  and  in  accord 
ance  with  this  law,  Jeffery  Amherst  was  predestined 
for  a  martial  career.  His  first  employment,  however, 
was  of  a  different  nature,  for  at  an  early  age  he  was 
a  page  in  the  house  of  the  Duke  of  Dorset  who  lived 
but  a  short  distance  from  the  Amherst  homestead 
at  Riverhead.  Such  service  was  regarded  as  a  social 
and  educational  privilege  in  those  days  and  in  this 
case  it  led  directly  to  the  boy's  entrance  into  the 
army.  In  1735  Jeffery 's  noble  patron  was  Lord- 
lieutenant  of  Ireland  and  through  his  influence 
Amherst,  although  only  eighteen  years  old,  was 
appointed  an  ensign  in  the  First  Regiment  of  Foot 
Guards.1 

An  ensign  in  the  British  army  of  the  old  regime 
was  a  commissioned  officer  of  the  lowest  rank,  cor 
responding  to  a  second-lieutenant  of  to-day.  The 
Foot  Guards  were  an  ancient  institution,  which  traced 
its  origin  to  the  two  regiments  of  King's  Guards  that 
were  organized  just  before  and  just  after  the  Res- 

1  Sir  Frederick  William  Hamilton's  Origin  and  History  of  the  First  or 
Grenadier  Guards,  iii,  449. 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  9 

toration.1  These  two  military  bodies  were  merged 
into  one  by  Charles  II  in  1665,  and  the  combination 
became  known  as  the  King's  Regiment  of  Guards,  a 
designation  which  gave  way  twenty  years  later  to 
the  more  familiar  name  of  the  First  Regiment  of 
Foot  Guards.  In  time  of  peace  it  was  usually  quar 
tered  in  London,  sending  occasional  detachments  to 
Windsor  or  elsewhere  to  attend  upon  members  of  the 
royal  family;  but  in  time  of  war  this  regiment  was 
usually  to  be  found  where  the  fighting  was  most 
severe.  At  Blenheim,  Ramillies,  and  Malplaquet  it 
had  shown  itself  worthy  of  its  colonel,  who  in  those 
early  campaigns  was  no  other  than  the  invincible 
Marlborough. 

The  first  seven  years  of  Ensign  Amherst's  service 
were  years  of  peace,  for  in  spite  of  the  war  with  Spain 
which  broke  out  in  1739,  Walpole's  peace  policy  was 
practically  maintained  until  his  downfall  three  years 
later.  During  this  period  the  Guards  formed  the 
garrison  of  London,  guarded  the  sovereign  at  Wind 
sor,  and  performed  whatever  occasional  services 
naturally  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Household  Troops. 

Besides  these  duties,  and  occasionally  awing  a  tur 
bulent  public,  or  aiding  the  customs  officers  in  the 
suppression  of  smuggling,  the  regiment  had  little  to 
do  except  to  submit  to  an  annual  review,  an  event 
which  is  interesting  chiefly  from  the  description  of 
the  uniform  of  a  Guardsman,  which  it  affords.  A 
brigade-order  preceding  one  occasion  of  the  kind 
stipulated  the  following  requirements: 

1  Ibid.,  i,  no. 


io  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

"The  officers  to  appear  in  their  new  regimental 
clothes,  gaiters,  square-toed  shoes,  gorgets,  sashes, 
buff-colored  gloves,  regimental  laced  hats,  cockades, 
the  button  worn  on  the  left  side,  and  twisted  wigs, 
according  to  the  pattern.  The  men  to  appear  per 
fectly  clean  and  shaved,  square-toed  shoes,  gaiters, 
their  hats  well  cocked  and  worn  so  low  as  to  cover 
their  foreheads  and  raised  behind,  with  their  hair 
tucked  well  under  and  powdered,  but  none  on  the 
shoulders,  the  point  of  their  hats  pointing  a  little 
to  the  left,  their  arms  perfectly  clean/*1 

Such  was  the  appearance  of  the  English  fighting- 
man  of  Amherst's  youth,  and  the  uniform  continued 
to  be  cruelly  conspicuous  until  the  sound  good  sense 
of  Lord  Roberts  put  an  end  to  such  absurdities  after 
the  Boer  War.  For  Continental  wars,  in  which  the 
great  factor  was  standing  one's  ground  in  a  battle, 
the  scarlet  coat  and  other  accoutrements  were  not 
so  great  a  handicap  as  they  might  seem,  but  it  is 
still  difficult  for  the  American  mind  to  comprehend 
their  employment  in  wilderness  warfare,  for  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  years  after  Braddock's  disaster  in  1755. 

If  we  care  to  picture  Amherst  at  this  time  we 
must  imagine  a  tall,  thin  youth  with  brown  hair,  a 
ruddy  face,  eyes  of  steel  grey,  and  a  nose  decidedly 
aquiline.2  To  this  young  man  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Spain  in  1739  must  have  been  welcome,  after 
the  dull  monotony  of  year  after  year  of  garrison  life 

1  Hamilton's  Grenadier  Guards,  ii,  98. 

2  Sir  Nathaniel  William  Wraxall's  Historical  and  Posthumous  Memoirs 
(edited  by  H.  W.  Wheatley),  i,  406:   also  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds'  portrait  of 
Amherst  at  "Montreal,"  Sevenoaks,  Kent. 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  u 

and  reviews;  and  still  more  grateful  must  have  been 
the  prospect  of  a  general  war  on  the  Continent,  for 
two  years  previous  to  this  it  had  been  decided  that 
in  case  of  hostilities  the  First  Regiment  was  to  be 
at  once  ordered  on  foreign  service. 

The  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession  was  caused 
by  the  violation  of  a  scrap  of  paper  known  as  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction.  By  this  document,  which  was 
assented  to  by  all  the  important  states  of  Europe, 
the  Emperor  Charles  VI  thought  he  had  secured  the 
succession  of  his  daughter  Maria  Theresa  to  his  whole 
Austrian  domain,  but  after  his  death  in  1740  the 
guaranteed  heiress  was  not  long  in  doubt  as  to  the 
good  faith  of  princes. 

Prussia  struck  the  first  blow  when  Frederic  II 
poured  30,000  men  over  the  frontier  and  demanded 
the  province  of  Lower  Silesia.  France  followed  his 
ignoble  example,  then  Sardinia,  Saxony,  Spain,  and 
Poland  did  likewise,  and  the  partition  of  Austria 
seemed  inevitable.  English  statesmen  regarded  the 
situation  with  grave  concern,  for  Britain  had  guar 
anteed  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  was  likely  to  ful 
fil  her  engagement.  In  1741  Parliament  subsidized 
the  plucky  Austrian  Archduchess,  and  in  the  follow 
ing  year  16,000  English  troops  were  sent  to  Flanders 
as  auxiliaries  to  her  forces. 

Among  the  regiments  thus  despatched  to  the  Con 
tinent  was  the  First  Regiment  of  Foot  Guards  in 
which  Amherst  was  still  a  minor  commissioned  officer. 
The  chief  command  of  all  these  troops  was  given  to 
the  veteran  Earl  of  Stair,  among  whose  major-gen- 


12  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

generals  was  John  Ligonier.  The  latter's  name  was 
originally  Jean  Louis  Ligonier.  He  had  fled  from 
France  as  a  Protestant  refugee,  after  the  Revoca 
tion  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and,  enlisting  in  the 
British  army,  fought  under  Marlborough  at  Blen 
heim,  Ramillies,  Oudenarde,  and  Malplaquet,  and 
proved  himself  a  splendid  soldier.  At  Malplaquet, 
Ligonier  had  twenty-three  bullets  shot  through  his 
clothes  and  yet  emerged  from  the  battle  unhurt. 
His  rise  in  the  service  was  as  rapid  as  it  was  deserved, 
and  it  was  a  piece  of  great  good  fortune  for  Jeffery 
Amherst  that  the  veteran  commander  chose  him  for 
one  of  his  aides-de-camp  in  the  present  campaign. 
The  selection  was  made  in  the  previous  year  when 
Amherst  was  twenty-four  years  old,  but  whether  it 
was  based  upon  an  acquaintance  with  the  young 
lieutenant  or  upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
Duke  of  Dorset  remains  a  mystery.  At  any  rate, 
Amherst  went  to  Flanders  in  the  summer  of  1742 
in  the  capacity  of  aide-de-camp  to  General  John 
Ligonier. 

If  JefFery  was  impatient  for  active  service  after 
his  long  and  uninteresting  apprenticeship  in  and 
about  London,  the  first  campaign  was  disappointing. 
In  fact,  the  operations  of  the  British  army  on  the 
Continent  in  1742  can  hardly  be  called  a  campaign; 
they  consisted  mainly  in  waiting  for  the  Dutch 
allies  to  arrive.  The  Netherlanders,  although  under 
the  same  obligations  to  maintain  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  were  diffident  about  taking  any  active  part 
in  its  support.  Their  forms  of  procedure  were  slow 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  13 

and  their  temper  averse  to  the  remonstrances  of  Lord 
Stair;  even  Carteret,  by  going  in  person  to  the 
Hague,  failed  to  stir  them  out  of  their  apathy.  In 
the  meantime  the  British  troops  remained  in  Flan 
ders,  "idle,  unemployed,  and  quarrelling  with  the 
inhabitants."1 

In  1743  events  assumed  a  more  cheerful  aspect, 
and  towards  the  end  of  June  the  English  and  their 
Hanoverian  and  Hessian  allies  defeated  a  large 
French  army  at  Dettingen.  This  battle  is  usually 
remembered  as  the  last  in  which  an  English  king 
actually  commanded  his  troops  in  person.  Curiously 
enough  it  was  also  the  first  field  upon  which  Amherst 
saw  active  service,  and  although  it  would  be  inter 
esting  to  know  his  impressions  of  his  first  battle,  for 
these  we  have  no  source  of  information.  All  we 
know  is  that  in  the  campaign  as  a  whole  he  acquitted 
himself  well,  for  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year 
Lord  George  Sackville  alluded  to  him  with  genuine 
enthusiasm  in  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Dorset: 

"You  can  not  imagine  how  well  everybody  speaks 
of  Jeff.  Amherst.  He  is  of  great  use  to  General  Lig- 
onier  and  the  General  is  very  sensible  of  it.  He  can 
not  be  long  before  he  is  promoted  in  his  turn,  for  he 
is  now  the  eldest  lieutenant  in  the  regiment  and 
there  can  be  no  danger  of  anybody's  being  put  over 
his  head."2  Lord  George  was  in  a  position  to  know 
because  he  was  with  the  army  during  the  summer  of 

1  Mahon's  History  of  England,  iii,  189. 

2  Historical   Manuscripts  Commission's   Report  on  the  Manuscripts  of 
Mrs.  Stopford-Sackville,  i,  286. 


I4  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

1743,  first  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Twenty-eighth 
Regiment  of  Foot,  and  after  Dettingen,  as  aide-de 
camp  to  the  King. 

This  battle  was  also  the  first  action  for  at  least 
three  other  soldiers,  who  were  to  distinguish  them 
selves  in  the  conquest  of  Canada  before  many  years. 
One  of  these  was  James  Wolfe,1  a  youthful  ensign  of 
sixteen  years,  who  was  doing  the  duty  of  an  adju 
tant.  Wolfe's  entrance  into  adtive  service  was  hardly 
propitious,  as  the  horse  he  rode  was  shot  in  the  leg 
at  the  very  outset  of  the  battle,  and  the  future  hero 
of  the  Plains  of  Abraham  pitched  headlong  from  his 
saddle.2  For  Robert  Monckton,  who  was  second  in 
command  before  Quebec  and  upon  whose  shoulders 
Wolfe's  mantle  fell  on  that  eventful  day  in  1759, 
Dettingen  was  also  an  initiation  into  a  martial  career. 
Monckton  was  only  a  year  older  than  Wolfe  and  on 
this  occasion  served  on  the  King's  Guard.  The  last 
of  the  trio  was  George  Townshend  to  whom  Quebec 
surrendered,  —  and  who  hurried  home  to  England 
soon  after  the  capitulation  in  order  to  steal  for  him 
self  as  much  as  possible  of  Wolfe's  glory.3  Town 
shend  graduated  from  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
with  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1742,  and  instead  of 
indulging  in  the  "grand  tour"  of  Europe  which  in 
the  eighteenth  century  was  the  usual  method  of 
spending  the  first  year  after  one's  college  days,  he 
wished  to  join  in  the  Continental  campaign  as  a  vol- 

1  Deckles  Willson's  Life  and  Letters  of  James  Wolfe,  p.  34. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  39- 

1  Francis  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  317. 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  15 

unteer.  As  his  father  was  Viscount  Townshend  and 
his  uncle  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  a  post  on  the  staff 
of  Lord  Dunmore,  who  commanded  a  division  under 
Lord  Stair,  was  found  for  George  Townshend,  then 
eighteen  years  old.1  Thus  it  was  that  the  future 
conqueror  of  New  France,  and  the  first,  second,  and 
third  officers  in  command  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham, 
had  their  first  taste  of  real  war  at  the  battle  of  Det- 
tingen,  June  27,  1743. 

The  next  great  conflict  of  the  war  occurred  almost 
two  years  later  at  Fontenoy.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
command  of  the  British  contingent  of  the  allied  army 
had  been  given  to  William  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cum 
berland,  a  younger  son  of  George  II,  who  was  not 
more  than  twenty-four  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment.  In  spite  of  his  youth  Cumberland  was 
a  born  leader  of  men  and  his  personal  bravery  and 
enthusiasm  were  an  inspiration  to  the  rank  and  file. 
Had  he  commanded  an  harmonious  army  the  battle 
of  Fontenoy,  which  was  fought  on  May  n,  1745, 
might  have  been  a  victory  for  England,  but  lack  of 
co-operation  between  the  British,  Hanoverians,  Aus- 
trians,  and  Dutch  prevented  any  such  happy  outcome. 
JefFery  Amherst  was  present  with  his  chief,  General 
Ligonier,  and  had  a  busy  day  of  it,  dashing  hither 
and  thither  over  the  field  carrying  important  mes 
sages  to  the  Duke  and  to  his  subordinate  generals.2 
More  than  once  the  French  army  seemed  to  be  de- 

1  C.  V.  F.  Townshend's  Life  of  Field-Marshal  George  Townshend,  p.  7. 

2  J.  W.  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  ii,  113.     F.  H.  Skrine's 
Fontenoy,  pp.  164-165. 


16  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

feated,  but  finally  it  was  the  British  who  were  obliged 
to  retreat.  Retiring  to  a  position,  north  of  Brussels, 
they  spent  the  rest  of  the  spring  and  summer  in 
helplessly  watching  Flanders  fall  completely  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy. 

While  in  this  interesting  situation,  the  Duke 
received  word  that  Charles  Edward  Stuart,  better 
known  as  the  Young  Pretender,  had  arrived  in  Scot 
land  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  the  English  throne. 
As  Britain  was  drained  of  troops  by  the  European 
war,  Cumberland  was  instructed  to  send  home  ten 
battalions  with  Sir  John  Ligonier,  as  soon  as  pos 
sible.  Temporarily  the  scene  of  the  war  was  to  be 
changed  and  battles  were  to  be  fought  in  the  north 
of  England  and  in  Scotland.  Wherever  Ligonier 
went,  his  aide-de-camp  accompanied  him.  Accord 
ingly  Captain  Amherst  left  the  main  army  in  late 
September  and  arrived  in  London  in  the  first  week 
of  the  following  month. 

The  Young  Pretender  was  the  grandson  of  James 
II  and  was  well  suited  to  the  romantic  part  he  chose 
to  play,  for  he  was  youthful,  handsome,  and  blessed 
with  a  magnetic  personality.  At  first  success  at 
tended  him  at  every  hand.  He  marched  through 
Scotland  and  down  into  England  before  the  troops 
recalled  from  the  Continent  could  be  landed  and  put 
in  motion  against  him.  When  real  opposition  ap 
peared  upon  the  horizon,  however,  Charles  Edward 
Stuart,  having  given  London  a  good  fright,  turned 
his  face  northward  and  hurried  back  across  the  bor 
der.  The  English  forces  were  divided  into  three 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  17 

small  armies,  one  of  which  was  entrusted  to  Sir  John 
Ligonier.  With  this  division  Amherst  left  London 
in  the  last  week  of  November  and  advanced  into 
the  Midlands  to  prevent  the  Pretender  from  making 
a  dash  into  Wales,  where  Jacobite  sympathies  were 
supposed  to  be  strong.  A  week  later  in  the  heart 
of  Staffordshire,  Ligonier  and  the  Stuart  found 
themselves  in  close  promixity  and  the  latter  suddenly 
chose  Scotland,  rather  than  London  or  Wales,  as  his 
objective.  When  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  was 
with  Ligonier,  got  wind  of  the  retreat  of  the  rebels, 
he  caught  up  four  thousand  men  and  started  in  hot 
pursuit.  Over  the  border  into  Scotland  he  harried 
the  enemy,  and  on  and  on  until  the  decisive  victory 
at  Culloden,  in  the  following  April,  crushed  the  rebel 
lion  at  a  blow,  and  extinguished  forever  all  hope  of 
a  restoration  of  the  Stuarts. 

Jeffery  Amherst  remained  with  his  chief,  and  so 
did  not  witness  the  wholesale  butcheries  which  are 
ever  associated  with  the  names  of  Cumberland  and 
Culloden.  On  the  contrary,  life  must  have  been  quite 
uninteresting  for  the  young  aide-de-camp.  Soon  after 
the  Duke's  departure,  a  rumored  invasion  of  the 
south  of  England  by  the  French,  brought  Ligonier 
and  his  army  back  to  London,  where  they  arrived 
about  Christmas  time.  Here  the  winter  was  spent, 
and  though  England  kept  a  vigilant  eye  upon  Dun 
kirk,  the  threatened  expedition  never  took  place. 

Promotion  in  the  service,  however,  compensated 
Amherst  for  lack  of  excitement  in  this  dull  period. 
On  Christmas  Day  in  1745,  he  was  given  a  company 


i8  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

in  the  First  Battalion  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Foot 
Guards,  and  his  rank  was  raised  to  that  of  lieuten 
ant-colonel.1  This  meant  not  only  a  higher  rank 
and  the  title  of  colonel,  but  also  brought  with  it  a 
pecuniary  increase.  As  a  captain,  Amherst  had 
received  sixteen  shillings  and  sixpence  per  day.  In 
his  new  rank  the  pay  was  one  pound,  eight  shillings, 
and  sixpence,  —  a  substantial  difference  of  twelve 
shillings.2 

In  June,  1746,  Colonel  Amherst  accompanied  Lig- 
onier  back  to  the  Netherlands,  where  the  French  had 
made  great  progress  during  the  absence  of  the  Brit 
ish  troops.  Though  George  II  was  keenly  desirous 
of  revenge  upon  France  for  the  suspicious  part  she 
had  played  in  the  Forty-five,  his  hopes  were  not 
realized  in  this  campaign,  for  no  battle  worthy  of 
the  name  was  fought.  Inaction  and  occasional  com 
pulsory  retreat  were  the  characteristics  of  the  year's 
operations  on  the  Continent.  In  the  following 
winter,  however,  when  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  allied 
army,  there  was  more  prospect  of  co-operation  and 
enterprise. 

The  military  family  which  the  Duke  adopted  to 
help  him  in  the  campaign  of  1747  is  interesting.  Of 
his  seven  aides-de-camp  three  were  destined  to  win 
renown  in  America.  The  first  of  these  was  the  ever 
memorable  Lord  Howe,  who  was  killed  near  Ticon- 
deroga  eleven  years  later,  the  idol  of  Americans  and 

1  Army  List  for  1754,  p.  8. 

2  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  ii,  606. 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  19 

British  alike.  The  second  was  none  other  than 
Colonel  Jeffery  Amherst,  who,  according  to  Horace 
Walpole,  had  been  "the  favorite  aide-de-camp  of 
Ligonier."  The  third  was  George  Townshend,  who, 
as  has  already  been  stated,  commanded  under  Wolfe 
on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  and  in  later  years  became 
a  Field  Marshal  of  the  British  army.  For  Amherst, 
who  was  just  thirty  years  old,  the  appointment  was 
flattering  and  was  doubtless  due  to  the  representa 
tions  of  his  old  chief,  Ligonier. 

In  spite  of  all  his  energy  and  enthusiasm,  Cum 
berland  was  not  a  match  for  the  enemy,  and  the  odds 
against  him  were  increased  by  the  lack  of  harmony 
which  marked  the  councils  of  the  Allies.  On  July  2, 
1747,  a  battle  was  forced  upon  him  at  Laffeldt,  a 
tiny  village  near  Maestricht.  The  British  and  the 
Hessians  made  a  gallant  stand,  but  when  retreat 
became  necessary,  heroic  measures  were  required  to 
prevent  its  becoming  a  rout.  Accordingly  Ligonier, 
with  characteristic  bravery,  led  three  regiments  of 
cavalry  straight  into  the  pursuing  French  horse. 
Before  this  terrific  onslaught  the  enemy  fell  back  in 
temporary  confusion  and  gave  the  allied  army  time 
to  make  good  its  escape.  Amherst's  erstwhile  chief 
paid  dearly  for  his  achievement:  his  horse  was  shot 
under  him,  and  he  himself  was  captured  by  the 
French.  Although  from  a  military  point  of  view  the 
battle  of  Laffeldt  was  unimportant,  it  led  directly  to 
the  ending  of  the  war. 

At  last  King  George  was  heartily  sick  of  the  con 
flict  which,  since  Dettingen,  had  been  one  defeat 


20  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

after  another  on  the  Continent.  Apparently  the 
victorious  Louis  XV  was  equally  bored  by  the  pros 
pect  of  more  campaigns  in  the  Netherlands,  for  he 
availed  himself  of  the  presence  of  Ligonier,  now  his 
prisoner,  to  make  overtures  for  peace.  These  were 
gladly  transmitted  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  and 
when  he,  in  turn,  conveyed  them  to  his  father,  George 
II,  the  tidings  were  received  with  joy  by  the  King 
and  his  ministers.  Consequently  a  Congress  to  arrange 
the  terms  of  a  peace  assembled  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in 
January,  1748,  and  the  preliminary  articles  establish 
ing  practically  the  status  quo  ante  bellum,  were  signed 
a  few  months  later. 

What  had  the  six  years  of  war  meant  to  Amherst? 
For  him  the  long  and  costly  struggle  had  been  an 
excellent  training-school  replete  with  moving  acci 
dents  by  flood  and  field,  and  the  experience  gained 
in  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession  was  destined 
to  yield  fruit  in  the  Seven  Years*  War  a  decade  later; 
but  equally  important  were  the  friendships  Colonel 
Amherst  formed  at  this  time.  Of  these  his  acquain 
tance  with  Sir  John  Ligonier  was  to  lead  directly  to 
the  prominent  part  awaiting  him  at  Louisburg. 
Hardly  less  valuable  was  his  association  with  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  although  the  latter  fell  from 
grace  at  the  precise  moment  when  Amherst's  real 
career  was  about  to  begin. 

In  time  of  peace  the  soldier's  life  is  indeed  dull. 
Jeffery  Amherst  returned  to  the  monotonous  routine 
of  an  officer  of  the  Guards  whose  duties  during  the 
next  few  years  consisted  chiefly  in  assisting  the  civil 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  21 

magistrates  of  London  to  preserve  the  peace.  There 
were  smugglers  and  highwaymen  to  be  escorted  to 
Newgate,  and  there  were  excited  crowds  to  be  kept 
in  order  at  public  executions;  also  there  were  the  less 
lugubrious  periods  of  service  at  Windsor,  or  at  Hamp 
ton  Court,  or  wherever  the  sovereign  might  choose 
to  reside.  Fortunately  the  monotony  of  this  life  was 
somewhat  relieved  in  Amherst's  case  by  his  appoint 
ment  as  Groom  of  the  Bedchamber  to  his  royal 
companion  in  arms,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Be 
sides  whatever  eclat  this  membership  in  the  ducal 
household  brought,  it  also  meant  personal  atten 
dance  upon  his  Royal  Highness  for  two  or  three 
weeks  at  a  time  every  year;  and  thus  the  intimacy 
which  had  grown  up  between  the  two  men  during 
their  service  abroad  was  kept  alive  in  time  of  peace. 

Another  friendship  formed  during  the  war  appears 
to  have  been  continued  during  these  dull  days,  for 
in  a  letter  from  Wolfe  to  his  father,  written  in  April, 
1750,  the  future  captor  of  Quebec  mentions  having 
"writ"  to  Amherst,  and  "said  everything  that  I 
thought  could  engage  him  to  use  his  influence  with 
Sir  John  Ligonier"  to  procure  a  provision  for  the  son  of 
one  Mrs.  Scott.1  To  what  extent  Amherst  troubled 
himself  about  the  matter  is  not  known,  but  a  few 
weeks  later  Wolfe  asserted  his  conviction  that  his 
friend  had  done  his  part,  and  gave  still  further  evi 
dence  of  confidence  in  his  "sincerity  and  good  incli 
nations."  Although  it  is  well  known  that  the  future 
conquerors  of  Canada  saw  their  first  service  in  the 

1  Beckles  Willson's  Life  and  Letters  of  James  Wolfe,  p.  125. 


22  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

0 

previous  campaigns  in  the  Low  Countries,  this  is 
the  earliest  evidence  of  their  actual  acquaintance. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  1750,  occurred 
the  death  of  Jeffery  Amherst,  the  father,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-three  years.  By  his  decease  the  family 
estate  at  Riverhead  passed  to  Sackville,  the  eldest 
son.  Eighteen  months  later  Amherst's  mother  fol 
lowed  her  husband,  and  was  buried  at  Sevenoaks. 
These  breaks  in  the  family  circle  were  perhaps  con 
tributing  causes  of  the  Colonel's  first  matrimonial 
venture,  for  in  May,  1753,  JefFery  Amherst  married 
his  second  cousin,  Jane  Dalison.1  The  bride,  who 
was  thirty-one  years  old,  and  hence  five  years  younger 
than  her  husband,  came  of  a  good  Kentish  family 
which  had  been  established  for  many  years  not  far 
from  Riverhead.  The  marriage  took  place  in  Gray's 
Inn  Chapel  in  London,  but  of  this  Mrs.  Amherst  we 
know  little  else  except  that  she  died  twelve  years 
later,  leaving  her  husband  without  heirs. 

Domestic  events  and  military  routine  so  occupied 
the  Colonel  at  this  time  that  even  his  old  friends 
and  patrons,  the  Sackvilles,  lost  track  of  him,  and  one 
of  them  wrote  to  the  future  Lord  George  Germain, 
asking  "What  is  become  of  Amherst  and  his  General 
Ligonier?"2  Indeed  it  seems  as  if  the  Colonel  shared 
the  sentiments  of  Shakespeare's  Henry  V,  — 

"In  peace  there's  nothing  so  becomes  a  man 
As  modest  stillness  and  humility." 


1  William  Berry's  County  Genealogies,  Kent,  pp.  182,  183,  495. 
*  Stopford-Sackvillf  Manuscripts,  i,  39. 


EARLY  CAMPAIGNS  23 

But  he  was  not  to  remain  long  in  obscurity,  for  the 
clouds  of  war,  that  were  to  encircle  the  globe, 
already  darkened  the  western  horizon,  and  there  was 
promise  of  a  conflict  which  had  been  inevitable  ever 
since  the  signing  of  the  universally  unsatisfactory 
Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    SEVEN   YEARS*   WAR 

IT  is  usually  asserted  that  the  Seven  Years'  War 
broke  out  in  America  and  spread  to  the  Old 
World.  Certainly  that  is  the  most  convenient 
way  to  distinguish  this  upheaval  from  those  of  the 
preceding  half-century  of  conflict.  Whether  or  not 
conditions  in  Europe  would  have  led  to  a  general 
war  irrespective  of  the  clash  between  two  empires  in 
the  New  World,  American  developments  may  prop 
erly  be  regarded  as  the  long,  slow  fuse  which  at 
length  ignited  the  magazines  of  all  central  Europe. 
Heretofore  the  reverse  of  this  process  had  been  true; 
European  hostilities  were  merely  echoed  in  America 
by  the  raids  of  the  French  and  Indians  upon  our 
frontier  towns,  or  by  organized  attacks  on  the  part 
of  the  British  against  the  strongholds  of  New  France. 
Colonial  warfare  was  a  display  of  loyalty  to  the 
mother  country  rather  than  a  primary  quarrel,  and 
seldom  accomplished  much  in  the  interests  of  either 
empire  at  large.  Now  the  tables  were  turned,  for 
when  Washington  encountered  the  French  near 
Great  Meadows  in  May,  1754,  shots  were  exchanged 
which  preluded  a  great  European  struggle.  The 
renewal  of  hostilities  meant  that  two  empires  spread 
ing  out  over  North  America  had  at  last  run  afoul  of 


THE  SEVEN   TEARS'   WAR  25 

each  other  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  the  question 
of  right  of  way  must  be  settled  by  force  of  arms. 

From  the  beginning  of  her  American  colonization 
France  devoted  her  main  efforts  to  Canada  and 
founded  in  that  region  a  feudal  state  known  as  New 
France.  Pushing  constantly  westward,  up  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  and  through  the  Lakes,  the  French 
established  a  good  claim  to  the  entire  valley,  a  proc 
ess  which  culminated  in  the  pageant  of  Saint-Lusson 
in  1671.  On  that  occasion  Daumont  de  Saint-Lus 
son,  in  the  presence  of  the  representatives  of  four 
teen  Indian  tribes  formally  took  possession  of  the 
great  inland  basin  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  thus  de 
fined  the  northern  boundary  of  England's  colonial 
empire  in  the  New  World.  A  decade  later,  La  Salle 
sailed  down  the  Mississippi  from  the  Illinois  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and,  in  April,  1682,  assumed  title  to 
the  entire  Mississippi  Valley  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  France,  in  whose  honor  he  named  the  vast 
wilderness  Louisiana.  If  his  exploration  was  the 
basis  of  true  ownership  France  had  succeeded  already 
in  setting  a  western  limit  to  the  English  colonies  at 
the  watershed  of  the  Alleghanies;  but  as  yet  these 
ramifications  of  New  France  failed  to  disturb  the 
Anglo-Saxons  on  the  seaboard.  Except  in  the  Con 
necticut  and  Hudson  valleys  they  still  clung  to  the 
tidewater  regions  and  cared  little  about  the  adlivi- 
ties  of  French  explorers  in  the  remote  hinterland. 

The  first  check  to  French  expansion  was  admin 
istered  when  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  and  their 
territories  were  taken  under  the  protection  of  the 


26  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

King  of  England.  This  was  accomplished  in  1684 
by  Governor  Dongan  of  New  York  and  it  was  des 
tined  to  be  an  event  of  infinite  importance  for  the 
future  of  England  in  America.  The  League  of  the 
Iroquois  was  a  confederation  of  the  most  civilized 
and  intelligent  Indians  on  the  continent.  Their 
domain  proper  was  practically  that  of  the  State  of 
New  York  to-day,  but  tributary  tribes  were  to  be 
found  throughout  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  it  is  obvious 
that  the  friendship  of  the  Iroquois  was  the  key  to 
the  inland  country  north  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of 
the  Mississippi.  The  French  had  forfeited  all  pos 
sibility  of  true  amity  with  the  Five  Nations  when 
Champlain  unadvisedly  took  the  side  of  their  enemies, 
the  Ottawas,  and  delighted  the  latter  by  thoroughly 
terrifying  and  dispersing  a  band  of  Iroquois  which 
he  encountered  near  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain. 
That  misstep  occurred  in  1609  and  Iroquois  hostility 
for  the  French  might  have  been  overcome  in  time  had 
it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  French  brandy  was 
scarce  and  expensive,  while  English  rum  was  always 
available  for  no  great  consideration.  The  Jesuit 
Fathers  did  their  utmost  not  only  to  convert  the 
bloodthirsty  natives  to  Christianity  of  the  French 
type,  but  also  to  suppress  drunkenness  among  the 
redskins  with  whom  they  labored.  But  French 
blandishments  were  wasted  upon  the  Iroquois,  and 
their  friendship  for  the  English  was  consummated 
at  Albany  in  1684  when,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
declared  themselves  subjects  of  the  King  of  England 
and  placed  their  territory  under  his  protection. 


THE  SEVEN  TEARS'   WAR  27 

By  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
in  1713,  the  King  of  France  acknowledged  the  Iro- 
quois  to  be  English  subjects.  Was  this  not  equiva 
lent  to  an  admission  of  England's  title  to  the  Ohio 
Valley?  It  must  seem  so,  and  was  doubtless  regarded 
as  such  by  the  parties  to  the  instrument;  but  when 
France  was  once  more  upon  her  feet,  she  did  every 
thing  in  her  power  to  evade  the  treaty  obligations 
forced  upon  her  in  1713. 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  not  only  secured  the  recog 
nition  of  the  Iroquois  as  subjects  of  the  English 
Crown,  —  and  thus  excluded  New  France  from 
expansion  south  of  the  Great  Lakes,  —  but  it  also 
lopped  off  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia  from  the 
Gallic  empire  in  America.  This  pruning  of  New 
France  in  the  northeast  was  soon  balanced  by  the 
founding  of  New  Orleans  in  Louisiana,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  century 
there  were  perhaps  three  thousand  whites  and  two 
thousand  negro  slaves  in  the  southern  colony.  Scat 
tered  settlements  grew  up  along  the  river,  extending 
northward  from  New  Orleans.  They  dotted  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  at  Natchez  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  modern  St.  Louis,  and  there  were  also 
numerous  hamlets  in  the  Illinois  country.  Thus 
in  1750,  France  held  the  gates  to  the  boundless  in 
terior  of  North  America,  while  the  English  were 
practically  walled  up  by  the  Alleghanies,  not  more 
than  two  hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
Furthermore,  as  France  in  America  had  now  two 
heads,  one  at  Quebec,  the  other  at  New  Orleans, 


28  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

policy  dictated  the  connecting  of  these  capitals  by 
the  actual  possession  of  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  first 
steps  in  this  process  which  aimed  at  the  establish 
ment  of  France  as  the  predominant  power  in  North 
America  led  to  the  Seven  Years'  War,  a  struggle 
whose  outcome  spelt  quite  the  reverse  of  French 
colonial  aggrandizement  in  the  New  World.  In  the 
short  space  of  ten  years  the  Gallic  peril  was  not 
only  averted,  but  so  thoroughly  annihilated  that 
France  was  wiped  off  the  continent  of  North  America. 
Quietly  ignoring  the  limits  forced  upon  New 
France  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  and  disregarding 
the  fact  that  English  traders  abounded  in  the  country 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  the  governor  of 
Canada,  the  Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere,  sent  out  a 
party  of  about  two  hundred  white  men,  escorted  by 
a  few  Indians,  to  take  possession  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 
This  was  in  June,  1749;  the  leader  of  the  expedition 
was  Celoron  de  Bienville.  The  Frenchmen  proceeded 
across  Lake  Erie,  carried  to  Chautauqua  Lake,  and 
then  floated  down  the  Allegheny  to  the  Ohio,  depos 
iting  here  and  there  leaden  plates  inscribed  with  a 
legend  to  the  effect  that  Celoron  was  taking  posses 
sion  "of  the  aforesaid  River  Ohio,  of  all  streams  that 
fall  into  it,  and  all  lands  on  both  sides,  to  the  source 
of  the  aforesaid  streams  as  the  preceding  Kings  of 
France  have  enjoyed,  or  ought  to  have  enjoyed,  it, 
and  which  they  have  upheld  by  force  of  arms  and  by 
treaties,  notably  by  those  of  Ryswick,  Utrecht,  and 
Aix-la-Chapelle."1  All  this  was  very  impressive,  but 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  i,  47. 


THE  SE7EN   TEARS9   WAR  29 

unless  followed  by  settlement  it  could  in  no  way 
secure  the  region  for  France.  To  facilitate  future 
expeditions  and  possible  colonization,  the  Frenchmen 
made  themselves  as  agreeable  as  possible  to  the 
Indians,  ordered  a  group  of  English  traders  to  with 
draw  from  the  country,  and  then  returned  to  Canada 
by  the  way  of  the  Great  Miami,  the  Maumee,  and 
Lake  Erie.  From  the  French  point  of  view  the  Ohio 
Valley  was  now  indisputably  French. 

To  realize  how  the  two  empires  were  destined  to 
jostle  each  other  in  the  immediate  future,  we  need 
only  to  note  the  formation  and  activity  of  the  Ohio 
Company.  In  the  same  year  in  which  Celoron  took 
possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  some  Virginia 
gentlemen,  among  them  Lawrence  and  Augustine 
Washington,  procured  a  grant  of  two  hundred  thou 
sand  acres  from  the  King  of  England.  Roughly 
speaking,  the  land  granted  must  lie  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  present  state  of  West  Virginia,  and  in 
1750  the  Ohio  Company  sent  an  Indian  trader,  Chris 
topher  Gist  by  name,  across  the  mountains  to  spy 
out  the  land  and  after  exploration  to  select  a  desir 
able  tract  for  them.  Gist  carried  out  instructions 
and  explored  the  Ohio  from  its  most  northern  point 
at  Logstown  to  the  Great  Miami,  where,  a  scant  year 
and  a  half  before,  the  French,  under  Celoron  de 
Bienville,  had  preceded  him.  A  collision  between  the 
two  frontiers  was  now  inevitable,  and  that  collision 
became  more  immediate  when,  in  1752,  the  Marquis 
Duquesne  de  Menneville,  a  man  with  an  aggressive 
policy,  was  appointed  governor  of  Canada. 


30  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

The  French  government  did  not  give  any  great 
amount  of  support  to  the  ambitious  schemes  of  the 
new  governor.  He  was  reminded  that  the  expenses 
of  the  colony  were  already  enormous  and  that  they 
had  doubled  since  the  peace;  but  the  Marquis  Du- 
quesne,  seeing  that  it  was  a  case  of  now  or  never, 
determined  to  occupy  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ohio 
and  to  strengthen  that  occupation  by  forts  and 
garrisons.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1753,  an  expedi 
tion  of  about  fifteen  hundred  men  set  out  for  the 
disputed  country.  Instead  of  carrying  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Chautauqua  Lake,  as  Celoron  had  done  four 
years  before,  the  present  invaders  landed  at  Presqu' 
isle,  the  site  of  the  modern  city  of  Erie,  which  they 
found  to  be  an  advantageous  point  with  an  excellent 
harbor.  At  this  place  they  constructed  a  fort,  and 
then  cut  a  road  through  the  woods  to  the  Riviere 
aux  Boeufs,  the  nearest  tributary  of  the  Ohio.  There 
they  built  another  fort,  which  was  named  Fort  Le 
Boeuf;  but  dysentery  and  discouragement  put  an 
end  to  further  operations  for  the  year.  Leaving  three 
hundred  men  to  garrison  the  two  new  posts,  the 
rest  of  the  expedition,  much  the  worse  for  exposure 
and  fatigue,  returned  to  Montreal. 

The  garrison  at  Fort  Le  Boeuf  had  settled  down 
for  a  long  winter  in  the  wilderness,  when,  on  the 
evening  of  the  eleventh  of  December,  the  monotony 
of  their  solitude  was  broken  by  the  arrival  of  a  young 
Virginian,  accompanied  by  Christopher  Gist  and  a 
few  other  white  men  and  Indians.  The  unbidden 
guest  was  Major  George  Washington,  Adjutant- 


THE  SEFEN   TEARS'   WAR  31 

General  of  the  Virginia  militia,  and  he  brought  with 
him  a  letter  from  Governor  Dinwiddie,  expressing 
surprise  that  the  French  troops  should  fortify  lands 
"so  notoriously  known  to  be  the  property  of  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain."  The  letter  also  demanded 
the  peaceable  departure  of  the  intruders.  The  com 
mander  at  Fort  Le  Boeuf  forwarded  Dinwiddie's 
missive  to  the  Marquis  Duquesne  and  Washington 
returned  to  Virginia  unmolested.  One  discovery 
which  the  young  Virginian  made  while  on  this  mission 
deserves  especial  notice.  At  the  confluence  of  the 
Allegheny  and  the  Riviere  aux  Boeufs,  some  sixty 
miles  from  Fort  Le  Boeuf,  stood  an  English  trading- 
house.  Washington  found  the  building  converted 
into  a  French  military  outpost  over  which  the  invad 
ers  had  raised  their  flag.  The  property  had  changed 
hands  in  the  previous  August  when  members  of 
Duquesne's  expedition  seized  the  house  and  carried 
off  its  inmates.  This  aggression  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  small  in  itself,  was  the  first  overt  act  of  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  and  it  is  small  wonder  that  Gov 
ernor  Dinwiddie,  when  informed  of  what  had  occurred, 
arose  in  his  wrath  and  determined  upon  energetic 
measures  for  the  next  year. 

In  February,  1754,  Captain  Trent,  an  English  fur 
trader,  crossed  the  mountains  with  a  band  of  back 
woodsmen  to  build  a  fort  at  the  point  where  the 
Allegheny  and  the  Monongahela  unite  to  form  the 
Ohio,  —  a  spot  which  Washington  had  wisely  judged 
the  best  for  the  purpose.  Hardly  had  Trent  and  his 
men  commenced  constructing  the  outpost  when  a 


32  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

swarm  of  canoes  and  bateaux,  bringing  about  five 
hundred  Frenchmen,  descended  upon  the  position  of 
the  English.  Planting  cannon  in  front  of  the  embry 
onic  fortress,  the  invaders  forced  the  officer  in  charge 
to  surrender,  and  then  allowed  him  to  depart  with 
his  men.  While  the  vanquished  English  recrossed 
the  mountains  to  .Virginia,  the  French  destroyed 
the  captured  works  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  and 
began  the  construction  of  a  much  larger  and  better 
building  which  they  named  Fort  Duquesne. 

To  Dinwiddie  and  Washington  this  step  towards 
open  hostilities  resembled  a  declaration  of  war,  and 
they  acted  accordingly.  The  governor,  although  at 
odds  with  the  Virginia  Assembly,  succeeded  in  raising 
a  few  hundred  men  whom  he  hurried  through  the 
wilderness  to  the  scene  of  adtion.  This  so-called 
Virginia  Regiment  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Joshua  Fry,  an  English  gentleman,  but  Washington 
was  at  the  head  of  the  advance.  Towards  the  end 
of  May  the  latter  had  penetrated  to  a  place  called 
Great  Meadows  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  and  learning  that  a  party  of  Frenchmen  were 
in  the  immediate  vicinity,  Washington  determined  to 
surprise  them  before  they  could  set  a  trap  for  him. 
Advancing  into  the  forest,  the  Virginians  came  upon 
the  French  in  a  rocky  hollow,  and  a  short  battle 
ensued.  The  commander  of  the  enemy's  force  and 
about  ten  others  were  killed;  the  rest  were  captured, 
and  Washington  returned  to  the  camp  at  Great 
Meadows  where  he  awaited  reinforcements.  While 
there  he  erected  a  rude  protection  against  the  French 


THE  SEFEN   TEARS9   WAR  33 

which  he  called  Fort  Necessity,  a  name  it  very  soon 
justified,  for  on  July  3,  1754,  he  was  surrounded 
and  attacked  by  the  enemy.  After  nine  hours  of 
stubborn  and  discouraging  fighting,  Washington  sur 
rendered  upon  conditions  of  marching  out  with 
drums  beating  and  all  the  honors  of  war.  In  the 
early  morning  of  July  4,  the  retreat  began,  and  a 
few  days  later  not  an  English  flag  waved  beyond  the 
Alleghanies. 

Clearly,  war  between  England  and  France  had 
begun  in  North  America,  but,  as  in  the  days  of  Haw 
kins  and  Drake,  one  code  of  international  law  ob 
tained  in  the  Old  World,  another  in  the  New.  Hence 
hostilities  on  the  American  frontier  although  recog 
nized  and  abetted  by  the  home  governments  did  not 
necessarily  mean  war  between  the  two  states  in 
Europe.  Furthermore  France  needed  time  to  increase 
her  navy  and  to  strengthen  her  garrisons  in  America, 
while  England  was  equally  unprepared  with  a  reduced 
army  of  only  eighteen  thousand  men.  It  behooved 
both  powers  to  simulate  peace  at  home  while  bending 
every  energy  to  get  the  upper  hand  in  the  wilderness 
across  the  water. 

In  1755,  the  English  undertook  various  operations 
against  the  enemy  with  incidental  success,  but  all 
their  petty  victories  were  more  than  offset  by  the 
hideous  defeat  of  Braddock's  expedition  against 
Fort  Duquesne,  in  which  officers  and  men  were  done 
to  death  by  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies. 
Nevertheless,  Britain  by  no  means  relinquished  her 
claim  to  the  hinterland,  nor  her  intention,  if  necessary, 


34  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

to  fight  for  it.  In  May,  1756,  she  declared  war 
against  France.  Thus  began  the  most  terrible  con 
flict  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

In  view  of  the  discouraging  events  that  were  tak 
ing  place  in  America  it  was  only  natural  that  George 
II  turned  a  worried  eye  towards  his  hereditary  pos 
sessions  in  Germany,  for  in  the  impending  European 
war  the  Electorate  of  Hanover  could  scarcely  help 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  particularly  if 
Prussia  took  the  side  of  Louis  XV.  To  guard  against 
such  an  event  the  British  government  took  8,000 
Hessians  into  England's  pay  and,  in  February,  1756, 
sent  Colonel  Jeffery  Amherst  to  Germany  to  take 
charge  of  their  commissariat.  The  appointment 
entailed  duties  of  an  administrative  kind  only,  and 
was  very  likely  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  who  still  stood  high  as  a  military  ad 
viser  to  the  Cabinet. 

At  first  Amherst's  headquarters  were  in  the  quaintly 
attractive  town  of  Cassel,  the  capital  of  the  old  elec 
torate  of  Hesse-Cassel,  but  hardly  had  the  Colonel 
arrived  at  the  scene  of  his  duties  when  he  received 
hurried  orders  from  home  to  return  to  England  with 
a  portion  of  the  Hessian  subsidiaries,  for  the  island 
trembled  at  the  prospect  of  an  invasion  by  the 
French.  This  meant  not  only  the  task  of  supplying 
the  troops,  but  also  the  engineering  of  their  assembly 
and  transportation,  a  feat  which  Amherst  seems  to 
have  accomplished  with  success.  Leaving  Cassel  in 
the  first  week  in  April,  he  went  to  Hanover  and 
thence  to  Stade,  the  fortified  port  of  the  Electorate 


THE  SE7EN   TEARS9   WAR  35 

on  the  estuary  of  the  Elbe.  There  he  remained  three 
or  four  weeks,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  trans 
ports  which  should  convey  him  and  his  Germans 
across  the  North  Sea.  By  the  eleventh  of  May  all 
were  on  shipboard,  and  the  imported  mercenaries, 
escorted  by  their  commissary  on  H.  M.  S.  "Queen- 
borough,"  turned  their  faces  toward  England.  The 
voyage  was  not  a  short  one,  even  for  those  days, 
but  Amherst  and  his  charges  arrived  in  good 
order  at  Southampton  on  the  evening  of  May 
I5.1  There  the  Hessians  were  immediately  divided 
into  two  camps,  one  at  Farnham,  the  other  at 
Winchester,  —  both  sufficiently  near  the  coast  to 
insure  its  protection.2 

During  the  busy  days  when  he  was  occupied  with 
the  landing  and  disposition  of  the  Hessians,  Jeffery 
Amherst  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  I5th  Regi 
ment  of  Foot,3  an  event  in  which  Wolfe  rejoiced  so 
much  that  he  wrote  to  his  father:  "I  hear  with 
pleasure  to-day,  that  my  friend  Amherst  has  got  a 
regiment;  nobody  deserves  the  King's  favor  better 
than  that  man/'4  The  new  appointment  was  practi 
cally  a  sinecure  and  in  no  way  interfered  with  his 
duties  as  commissary  to  the  foreign  subsidiaries,  but 
as  a  recognition  of  his  ability  and  services  the  colo 
nelcy  was  decidedly  significant. 

In  January,  1753,  the  eyes  of  Frederick  of  Prussia 
had  been  opened  to  the  existence  of  an  ill-natured 

1  State  Papers  Foreign,  Military  Expeditions,  vol.  27. 

2  Hamilton's  Grenadier  Guards,  ii,  152. 
1  Army  List  for  1757,  p.  6. 

*  Willson's  Wolfe,  p.  287. 


36  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

secret  treaty  between  Russia  and  Austria,  aiming  at 
the  restitution  of  Silesia  and  the  partition  of  the 
kingdom  of  Prussia.  Saxony,  too,  was  in  the  plot, 
and  all  that  was  necessary  to  insure  success  was  the 
neutrality,  —  if  not  the  assistance,  —  of  France.  Well 
might  even  Frederick  be  concerned  when  confronted 
with  such  a  hostile  coalition  and  he  looked  about  for 
a  strong  ally  with  whom  to  stem  the  threatening 
tide.  For  his  royal  uncle,  the  King  of  England, 
Frederick  had  little  affection  and  less  respecl:,  but  in 
the  face  of  the  gathering  storm  his  practical  mind  dis 
covered  in  Britain  a  much  needed  source  of  strength. 
When  George  II  was  confident  of  the  sincerity  of  the 
Prussian  king's  advances,  he  gladly  closed  with  him 
in  an  alliance  to  resist  any  invasion  of  Germany  by 
foreign  powers,  for  such  an  arrangement  insured  the 
safety  of  Hanover.  This  diplomatic  move  resulted 
in  the  Treaty  of  Westminster  in  January,  1756,  and 
led  France  to  abandon  her  traditional  policy  and  to 
join  with  Austria  against  Prussia.  The  standard  in 
ternational  cleavage  of  Europe  was  radically  changed 
and  the  line-up  for  the  oncoming  struggle  showed 
Austria,  Russia,  France,  the  Catholic  German  states, 
and  finally  Sweden  on  one  side,  against  England  and 
Prussia  on  the  other.  Of  this  inevitable  European 
explosion  it  is  evident  that  the  clash  of  empires  in 
America  was  but  the  sputtering  fuse. 

By  the  Second  Treaty  of  Versailles  in  May,  1757, 
France  joined  Russia  and  Austria  in  their  conspiracy 
for  the  partition  of  Prussia,  and  in  anticipation  of 
that  event,  two  French  armies  aggregating  100,000 


THE  SE7EN   TEARS'   WAR  37 

men  were  poured  across  the  Rhine.  Then  indeed 
was  Hanover  threatened  with  an  invasion,  and 
George  II  urged  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  to  take 
command  of  the  troops  of  the  Electorate,  and  of  the 
Hessians  whom  he  had  hired  for  just  such  an  emer 
gency.  Evidently  age  and  experience  had  staled 
Cumberland's  desire  for  foreign  service.  Lacking 
confidence  in  himself  he  made  difficulties,  particularly 
about  being  under  the  direction  of  Pitt,  whom  he 
hated  as  much  as  did  his  father.1  When  that  minister, 
refusing  to  resign,  was  peremptorily  dismissed  by 
the  King,  the  Duke's  last  excuse  was  removed,  and 
early  in  April,  the  Butcher  of  Culloden  reluctantly 
departed  for  the  Continent. 

Meanwhile  Colonel  Amherst,  who  had  sojourned 
in  England  for  the  past  nine  months  with  his  Hes 
sian  charges,  was  despatched  once  more  to  Germany. 
Early  in  March,  1757,  he  was  again  in  Cassel  with 
its  parks  and  palaces,  and  he  remained  in  that  vicin 
ity  for  several  weeks,  attending  to  the  Hessian  con 
tingent  resident  there.  In  May  the  commissary's 
duties  called  him  to  Stade  to  superintend  the  disem 
barking  of  the  German  troops,  who,  having  defended 
Britain  for  a  year,  were  now  returning  to  the  Con 
tinent  to  fight  under  the  Duke  of  Cumberland. 
By  the  middle  of  the  month  they  were  safely  landed 
and  sent  on  their  way  to  the  camp  at  Hameln  on 
the  Hanoverian  frontier,  a  town  more  famous  for  its 
Pied  Piper  and  its  rats  than  for  this  military  estab 
lishment.  Thither  Amherst  followed  them  shortly 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears1  War,  i,  158. 


38  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

and  placed  himself  under  the  command  of  his  royal 
friend.1 

The  forces  of  which  the  Duke  took  command  num 
bered  about  50,000  men,  mostly  Hanoverians  and 
Prussians  with  a  generous  admixture  of  Hessians, 
Brunswickers,  and  other  German  levies,  and  with 
them  he  was  expected  to  protect  the  electoral  domin 
ions.  This  Army  of  Observation,  as  it  was  appro 
priately  called,  was  concentrated  at  Bielefeld,  late  in 
April.  Cumberland's  task,  however,  was  an  un 
grateful  one:  in  the  first  place  the  troops  were  ill- 
assorted;  secondly,  they  were  devoid  of  anything 
resembling  esprit  de  corps;  and  worst  of  all,  they 
believed  themselves  over-matched  by  the  French, 
and  predestined  to  defeat.2  The  unhappy  com 
mander  manoeuvred  indecisively  until  the  French 
general,  Marshal  d'Estrees,  forced  a  battle  upon  him 
at  Hastenbeck,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Weser. 

This  engagement  took  place  on  July  26,  1757,  and 
JefFery  Amherst,  who  was  present  with  the  Hessian 
mercenaries  in  his  charge,  once  more  saw  his  chief 
go  down  to  defeat  before  the  enemy.  Although  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  was  Amherst's  junior  by  four 
years  he  had  grown  old  and  unwieldy  before  his 
time.  At  Hastenbeck  his  failing  sight  compelled  him 
to  depend  upon  other  eyes  than  his  own,  and  the 
result  was  disastrous.  With  a  loss  of  1500  men, 
Cumberland  retreated  steadily  down  the  course  of 
the  Weser  to  Verden,  which  lies  in  the  heart  of  the 

1  State  Papers  Foreign,  Military  Expeditions,  Vol.  27. 
1  Torrens'  History  of  Cabinets,  ii,  378. 


THE  SEFEN   TEARS'   WAR  39 

Electorate.  His  defeated  army  was  completely  de 
moralized.  Rations  were  short  and  the  soldiers  left 
the  ranks  to  pillage  and  to  indulge  in  all  kinds  of 
excesses.1  In  the  meanwhile  the  French  swept  over 
Hanover  unresisted,  plundering  and  pursuing,  until 
Cumberland  on  the  twenty-first  of  August  proposed 
a  suspension  of  hostilities.  But  Richelieu,  who  had 
succeeded  d'Estrees  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
enemy's  forces,  only  laughed  at  the  overture  of  his 
downcast  opponent,  and  the  chase  continued  across 
the  moors  towards  Stade,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Elbe.  There  the  archives  and  other  valuable  effects 
of  the  conquered  Hanover  were  stored,  and  there,  also, 
was  the  refugee  Council  of  Regency  of  the  Electorate. 
To  Amherst  this  uninterrupted  retreat  into  a  Serbonian 
bog  was  incomprehensible;2  but  the  Duke's  position  on 
the  rounded  peninsula  between  the  estuaries  of  the 
Weser  and  the  Elbe  was  not  unlike  that  of  Cornwallis 
at  Yorktown.  If  he  could  maintain  a  strong  base 
upon  the  coast,  there  was  hope  of  reinforcements  from 
England,  or  at  least  of  transports  for  his  beleaguered 
army,  and  knowledge  of  this  possibility  was  among 
the  causes  which  induced  Richelieu  to  grant  his  victim 
the  amazingly  lenient  terms  that  marked  the  ensuing 
Convention  of  Kloster  Zeven. 

While  Cumberland  was  retiring  under  the  guns  of 
Stade,  the  King  of  Denmark  awoke  to  a  diplomatic 
difficulty  which  presented  itself  owing  to  the  recent 

1  Richard  Waddington's  La  Guerre  de  Sept  Ans,  i,  460. 

2  P.  C.  Yorke's  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Philip  Torke,  Earl  of  Hard- 
wickf,  lily  119. 


40  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

military  operations.  By  a  treaty  of  forty  years' 
standing,  Denmark  guaranteed  Bremen  and  Verden 
to  the  Elector  of  Hanover,  undertaking  to  maintain 
this  obligation  within  six  weeks  by  an  army  of 
8,000  men.  Now  Bremen  and  Verden  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and  Frederic  V  was  confronted 
with  the  choice  of  a  profitless  war,  or  of  effecting 
some  sort  of  pacification  between  the  belligerents, 
—  some  arrangement  whereby  the  duchy  and  the 
principality  might  be  retained  by  the  Elector  of 
Hanover. 

Negotiations,  with  this  in  view,  were  opened  in 
the  last  days  of  August,  and  on  September  8,  1757, 
the  Convention  of  Kloster  Zeven  was  concluded. 
Both  parties  to  the  arrangement  rushed  headlong 
into  the  pacification,  with  the  result  that  only  its 
general  provisions  were  reduced  to  black  and  white, 
leaving  many  questions  to  be  settled  at  leisure,  - 
in  other  words,  open  to  controversy.  The  Duke  of 
Cumberland  agreed  to  send  home  to  their  respective 
countries  the  subsidized  troops  from  Hesse,  Bruns 
wick,  and  Saxe-Gotha,  while  about  one-half  of  the 
Hanoverian  army  was  to  be  interned  in  cantonments 
around  Stade;  the  remainder  returned  beyond  the 
Elbe,  leaving  the  French  in  full  possession  of  Han 
over.  Years  after  this  time  Napoleon  characterized 
the  terms  of  the  Convention  of  Kloster  Zeven  as 
"inexplicable"  on  the  part  of  the  French,  and  from 
every  point  of  view  it  must  appear  that  for  the  Duke 
it  was  an  easy  way  out  of  a  very  difficult  situation. 
Returning  to  England,  however,  the  unfortunate 


THE  SEVEN   YEARS'   WAR  41 

commander  was  received  with  cutting  silence  by  his 
royal  father,  who  exclaimed  to  the  courtiers  about 
him:  "Here  comes  my  son  who  has  ruined  me  and 
disgraced  himself."  It  is  not  surprising  that  on  the 
following  day  William  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumber 
land,  once  the  idol  of  the  nation,  threw  up  all  his 
military  employments  and  retired  forever  from  a 
career  which  had  proved  singularly  unfortunate. 

When  the  Convention  was  signed,  Colonel  Amherst 
very  naturally  began  to  march  the  Hessian  troops 
under  his  jurisdiction  back  to  their  native  heath.1 
Then  word  came  from  England  that  the  King  did  not 
consider  himself  bound  by  the  Convention,  where 
upon  the  army  recently  commanded  by  Cumberland 
was  speedily  prepared  for  a  fresh  campaign  under 
the  leadership  of  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick,  a 
warrior  who  had  attained  high  distinction  in  the 
Prussian  service.  Of  him  Colonel  Amherst  wrote  in 
glowing  terms  to  his  old  friend  Joseph  Yorke,  then 
England's  minister  at  the  Hague:  "The  Prince  is 
indefatigable  and  with  his  manner  with  the  troops 
gains  their  love  and  confidence;  all  I  see  and  hear 
foretells  success."2  The  soldiers  who  three  months 
before  this  time  were  dispirited  and  demoralized 
now  bristled  with  impatient  vigor,  and  almost  imme 
diately  the  restored  army  won  several  small  advan 
tages  over  Richelieu.  Then,  content  with  having 
started  the  war  on  a  new  tack,  Ferdinand  went  into 

1  Amherst  to  Da  Costa,  Sept.  10,  1757,  Emmett  Collection,  MS.  A,  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library. 

2  Amherst  to  Yorke,  Dec.  21,  1757.     Additional  MS.  No.  32876,  Fol.  449, 
in  the  British  Museum. 


42  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

winter  quarters  at  Liineburg,  whence  he  intended  to 
resume  the  offensive  in  February. 

In  the  meantime  there  occurred  in  the  life  of  Jeffery 
Amherst  an  event  of  inestimable  importance.  Early 
in  January,  1758,  while  wintering  at  Stade,  he  received 
an  order  signed  by  Lord  Holdernesse,  requiring  his 
immediate  presence  in  England.  From  there  he  was 
to  proceed  to  America  with  the  rank  of  major-general 
in  command  of  an  army  of  over  11,000  men  to  cap 
ture  the  French  island-stronghold  at  Louisburg  in 
Cape  Breton.  This  order  came  as  a  complete  sur 
prise,  and  the  causes  which  led  to  it  present  a  se 
quence  of  events  too  interesting  and  too  important 
to  be  neglected.  Leaving  Amherst  to  make  hurried 
preparations  for  his  departure  from  Germany,  let 
us  turn  to  the  men  and  events  responsible  for  the 
sudden  promotion  which  changed  the  scene  of  his 
activities  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WILLIAM    PITT 

WHEN  Amherst  left  England  for  Germany  in 
the  early  part  of  1756,  William  Pitt  had 
broken  with  the  head  of  the  ministry,  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  was  in  open  opposition  to 
the  administration  in  which  he  had  enjoyed  the  re 
munerative  post  of  Paymaster  of  the  Forces.  The 
occasion  of  his  dismissal  was  an  attack  upon  the 
policy  of  the  government  on  the  trite  charge  that 
Britain  was  subservient  to  Hanover,  but  Pitt's  real 
reason  for  taking  up  arms  against  his  old  colleagues 
was  his  conviction  that  in  the  fall  of  Newcastle  lay 
the  sole  prospect  of  his  own  advancement.  Long  had 
he  waited  and  watched  for  an  opportunity  to  display 
the  extraordinary  power  which  he  knew  to  be  his 
and  at  last  he  was  convinced  that  so  long  as  the  gov 
ernment  was  dominated  by  "one  too  powerful  sub 
ject,"  —  as  he  stigmatized  his  chief,  —  those  abilities 
would  be  under  a  bushel.  The  splendor  of  Pitt 
must  rise  from  the  ruins  of  Newcastle.  Nor  was  this 
attitude  discreditable  from  a  broad  point  of  view. 
Extremely  desirous  of  power  and  fame  though  he 
was,  the  insurgent  member  was  chiefly  actuated  by 
a  consciousness  of  phenomenal  ability,  which  in  this 
period  of  military  decadence  could  render  incompa- 


44  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

rable  service  to  his  country.  His  own  phrase,  "that 
sense  of  honor  which  makes  ambition  virtue,"  was 
exemplified  in  the  Great  Commoner,  for  he  possessed 
both  qualities  and  yet  combined  them  successfully. 
Upon  the  ground  that  England  needed  the  full 
strength  of  this  one  man's  extraordinary  powers, 
and  upon  such  ground  alone,  we  can  justify  Pitt's 
rebellion  in  1755,  a  rebellion  which  was  destined  to 
make  Britain  the  foremost  power  of  the  world. 

The  Newcastle  constellation,  rid  of  its  unruly  star, 
sank  slowly  and  inevitably  towards  the  horizon.  The 
year  1756  brought  nothing  but  discouragement  and 
defeat  for  England  abroad,  while  at  home  Britain 
trembled  at  the  rumor  of  a  French  invasion.  The 
old  Duke  of  Newcastle  felt  his  power  in  the  Commons 
rapidly  diminishing,  and  in  November  the  "universal 
minister"  resigned. 

The  obvious  successor  to  the  primacy  was  William 
Pitt,  but  though  the  Great  Commoner  was  backed 
by  the  thinking  part  of  the  nation  he  could  not  count 
more  than  sixteen  followers  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons.  To  remedy  this  difficulty  the  good-natured 
Duke  of  Devonshire  accepted  the  nominal  headship 
of  the  government,  while  Pitt,  more  capable,  if  less 
powerful,  achieved  his  ambition,  becoming  actual 
prime  minister  as  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Southern 
Department.  In  this  capacity  he  controlled  the 
movement  of  armies  in  the  New  World  and  in  India, 
as  well  as  in  southern  Europe,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  determined  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  for 
his  strong  intellect  easily  carried  before  it  the  medi- 


WILLIAM  PITT  45 

ocre  mind  of  Holdernesse,  his  colleague  for  the 
Northern  Department.  Politically  the  new  admin 
istration  was  as  weak  as  its  worst  enemy  could  have 
wished.  The  House  of  Commons,  that  changing  tide 
upon  which  ministries  rise  and  fall,  was  practically 
in  the  hands  of  the  fallen  Newcastle  and  his  allies. 
Morally  the  Devonshire  ministry  was  strong  as  the 
Rock  of  Gibraltar,  for  behind  Pitt  was  the  nation,  — 
not  the  riffraff  of  democracy  nor  the  debauched 
Whig  aristocracy,  but  "that  unenfranchised  England 
which  had  little  representation  in  Parliament/'1  that 
unromantic  but  sterling  middle  class,  which  has  al 
ways  made  England  England.  But  circumstances 
and  politicians  combined  to  shorten  the  life  of  his 
first  attempt  at  administration.  In  five  months' 
time  the  Newcastle-ites  proved  themselves  supreme 
in  Parliament,  while  their  opponent  flew  in  the  face 
of  both  King  and  people  in  a  desperate  effort  to  save 
an  unfortunate  commander  from  an  unjust  execu 
tion.  The  last  straw  was  added  when  Cumberland 
refused  to  take  command  of  the  Army  of  Observa 
tion  if  Pitt  were  to  exercise  authority  over  his  adlions. 
The  King,  who  hated  his  greatest  minister,  no  longer 
hesitated.  On  April  6,  1757,  William  Pitt,  refusing 
to  resign,  was  summarily  dismissed. 

The  moment  was  a  critical  one  for  England,  and 
it  became  evident  at  once  that  the  work  of  the 
powerful  opposition  had  been  purely  destructive. 
Pitt's  first  administration  had  fallen,  but  no  one 
dared  undertake  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry. 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  46. 


46  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

On  the  other  hand,  addresses  of  condolence  poured 
in  upon  the  Great  Commoner.  In  Horace  Walpole's 
happy  phrase  "for  some  weeks  it  rained  gold  boxes," 
for  in  such  encasements  came  the  freedom  of  the 
cities  of  London,  Bath,  Worcester,  Chester,  and 
Exeter,  besides  the  same  honor  conferred  by  other 
corporations.  It  was  apparent  that  the  nation  stood 
behind  him,  but  the  dismissed  Secretary  of  State 
well  knew  that  he  could  not  maintain  himself  without 
the  support  of  the  unrepresentative  House  of  Com 
mons.  The  King  was  in  despair,  and  for  nearly  three 
months  England  was  without  a  government.  There 
was  but  one  thing  which  could  save  the  country,  — 
a  coalition  between  Pitt  and  Newcastle;  in  other 
words,  an  alliance  of  nation  and  Parliament.  The 
Duke  hesitated  to  head  a  ministry  in  which  he  real 
ized  that  he  would  be  far  outshone  by  the  Secretary 
of  State.  Newcastle  hated  Pitt  as  cordially  as  the 
latter  despised  the  Duke,  but  a  combination  was 
brought  about  by  which  each  gained  what  he  most 
desired;  Newcastle  as  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  was 
to  dole  out  the  offices,  a  pleasant  occupation  free 
from  all  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  politics  and 
of  war,  while  Pitt,  to  use  his  own  language,  would 
borrow  the  Duke's  majorities  to  carry  on  the  gov 
ernment.  The  cabinet  meetings  promised  to  be 
gatherings  as  congenial  as  those  which  marked  Wash 
ington's  first  administration  with  Hamilton  and  Jeffer 
son  seated  at  the  same  table,  but  the  arrangement 
was  practical  in  a  high  degree,  as  subsequent  events 
proved.  In  the  last  week  of  June,  1757,  the  new  min- 


WILLIAM  PITT  47 

istry  kissed  hands  l  and  England  thus  took  a  neces 
sary  step  on  the  high-road  to  victory. 

Now  that  the  reins  of  power  have  been  securely 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Great  Commoner,  let  us 
pause  to  study  the  character  and  qualities  of  this 
extraordinary  man,  to  whom  Jeffery  Amherst  owed 
much. 

William  Pitt  was  primarily  a  genius:  secondarily 
he  was  a  very  great  man.  The  genius  of  Pitt  lay  in 
his  eloquence;  his  greatness  in  his  mastery  of  men. 

In  England,  the  eighteenth  century  was  an  age 
when  legislation  was  determined  more  by  speech- 
making  than  by  party  or  policy,  a  phenomenon  which 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  when  the  government  and 
its  placemen  were  confronted  by  a  numerous  and 
well-organized  opposition  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  the  balance  of  power  was  held  by  a  compara 
tively  small  group  of  independents.  To  hold  these 
members  to  the  Government,  or  to  carry  them  over 
to  the  Opposition  was  the  aim  of  the  party  leaders, 
and  to  accomplish  this  end,  persuasive  speaking  was 
essential.  As  an  orator,  Pitt  was  incomparable. 
His  didlion  was  simple  but  poetic,  calculated  to  im 
print  his  intelligent  ideas  clearly  and  indelibly  upon 
the  minds  of  his  hearers.  Majestic  in  declamation, 
blasting  in  invective,  he  awed  and  thrilled  the  most 
fastidious  audience.  Nor  was  this  all,  for  he  united 
with  these  attributes  the  qualities  of  a  great  actor. 
A  contemporary  of  Garrick,  he  rivalled  in  look,  ges 
ture,  and  tone,  that  greatest  histrionic  genius  of  all 

1  Albert  von  Ruville's  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  ii,  130. 


48  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

time.  He  held  his  adherents  spellbound  by  his  utter 
ances,  and  with  the  lightning  of  his  flashing  eye  struck 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  opposed  him. 

Like  all  orators  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
Great  Commoner  spoke  with  a  freedom  which  the 
political  speaker  of  to-day  may  not  enjoy,  for  in  those 
days  the  reporting  of  speeches  in  Parliament  was  fit 
ful  and  sporadic.  Then  the  statesman  spoke  to  the 
House  of  Commons  and  not  to  the  proletariat,  and 
he  spoke  with  a  personality  and  an  art  which  are 
entirely  lost  in  the  printed  page.  His  whole  idea 
was  to  carry  the  House  with  him,  and  he  did  not 
need  to  consider  the  misrepresentations  which  might 
be  the  fruit  of  his  words  when  conned  in  cold  print 
by  hostile  critics  in  the  country  at  large.  With  such 
lack  of  restraint  Pitt  uttered  his  trenchant  aphorisms 
and  memorable  phrases.  As  Lyttelton  said,  "His 
words  have  sometimes  frozen  my  young  blood  into 
stagnation,  and  sometimes  made  it  pace  in  such  a 
hurry  through  my  veins  that  I  could  scarce  support 
it."1  Such  was  the  eloquence  of  the  man,  an  elo 
quence  which  was  but  the  ornament  of  a  scholar's 
mind  and  a  statesman's  intellect.  The  divine  spark 
of  Pitt's  oratory  was  his  patriotism:  first,  last,  and 
always  he  was  an  Englishman,  whether  defending 
the  American  colonists,  when  they,  as  Englishmen, 
claimed  the  rights  of  other  subjects  of  the  Crown,  or 
casting  them  out  of  the  realm  of  conciliation  because 
they  had  joined  in  an  alliance  with  Britain's  heredi 
tary  enemy.  As  with  Webster,  so  with  Pitt,  love  of 

1  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  ii,  512. 


WILLIAM  PITT  49 

country  was  the  Promethean  heat  which  kindled 
extraordinary  eloquence  and  stirred  to  their  deepest 
depths  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  Such  was  the  gen 
ius  of  this  paragon  of  public  speakers. 

Pitt  was  not  merely  scholar  and  orator.  He  was 
a  monarch  of  men.  His  instructions  to  the  com 
manders  under  his  jurisdiction,  and  his  letters  to  the 
colonial  governors  sound  like  the  edicts  of  a  king. 
Expressed  with  marvelous  clearness  and  force,  his 
missives  were  calculated  to  bring  forth  the  greatest 
efforts  from  those  who  understood  the  tasks,  how 
ever  Herculean.  Generous  with  commendation,  yet 
firm  in  reprimand,  the  great  War  Minister  displayed 
at  all  times  an  appreciation  of  the  difficulties  attend 
ing  the  campaigns  as  well  as  the  results  which  might 
justly  be  expected.  His  knowledge  of  the  detail  of 
every  situation,  amazing  as  it  was,  accounts  for  much 
of  the  efficiency  of  his  administration.  So  inspiring 
was  his  personality  that  every  commander  who 
entered  his  closet  came  out  of  it  a  braver  man  and 
carried  away  with  him  new  courage  and  faith. 

Scarcely  less  admirable  was  his  standard  of  political 
honor.  Moving  in  an  age  when  offices  were  sought 
more  for  their  remunerative  contingencies  than  for 
the  power  or  even  the  fame  which  they  brought  the 
incumbent,  a  period  when  every  arm  of  the  service 
was  festered  with  rottenness  and  honeycombed  with 
graft,  William  Pitt  inaugurated  an  entirely  new  sys 
tem  of  morals.  Upon  coming  into  the  Pelham  ad 
ministration  in  1746,  he  was  given  the  notoriously 
lucrative  post  of  Paymaster  of  the  Forces.  Every 


50  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

occupant  of  this  office  before  his  time  had  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  invest  the  large  float 
ing  balance  in  government  securities,  appropriating 
the  interest  for  his  own  purse,  as  well  as  receiving 
one-half  per  cent  of  all  subsidies  voted  by  Parliament 
to  foreign  princes.  Although  Pitt  was  probably  the 
poorest  man  who  had  ever  held  this  office,  he  refused 
from  the  first  to  accept  these  perquisites  which  seemed 
to  him  illegal;  and  when  the  King  of  Sardinia  en 
deavored  to  make  him  a  gift  of  no  mean  proportions, 
the  Paymaster  of  the  Forces  refused  it  as  he  would  a 
bribe.  To  us  any  other  course  than  that  which  Pitt 
pursued  in  this  matter  would  seem  more  surprising 
than  that  which  he  chose.  To  eighteenth-century 
England,  however,  such  an  honorable  conviction, 
with  the  courage  to  support  it,  was  astounding. 
The  general  run  of  office-holders  shrugged  their 
shoulders,  while  the  nation,  long-suffering  under  the 
corruption  of  its  representatives  and  weary  of  the 
selfish  deeds  of  placemen,  "feeding  at  the  public 
crib,"  recognized  the  greatness  of  William  Pitt,  and 
from  that  hour  he  was  its  idol. 

Genius  usually  sets  limitations  to  greatness,  and 
this  was  conspicuously  the  case  with  Pitt.  Until 
his  accession  to  power  under  the  Pelhams  in  1746, 
one  is  little  attracted  to  the  violent  spitfire  who 
assailed  with  the  fury  of  a  madman,  the  wise  admin 
istration  of  Walpole.  The  Whig  statesman  at  the 
helm  was  attacked  at  every  point  by  "this  terrible 
cornet,"  as  Walpole  dubbed  him,  and  even  after  1742, 
Pitt  continued  his  hostility,  insisting  upon  an  im- 


WILLIAM  PITT  51 

peachment.  The  succeeding  administration  pursued 
an  entirely  different  policy,  but  Pitt,  finding  himself 
as  far  from  power  as  before,  continued  his  venomous 
assaults  upon  the  Government.  He  even  went  so 
far  as  to  insult  the  King  by  calling  Hanover  a  "des 
picable  electorate."  One  cannot  but  feel  that,  as  a 
rule,  Pitt  in  opposition  was  actuated  more  by  a 
desire  to  overthrow  the  existing  ministry  in  the  hope 
of  acquiring  power  through  its  downfall,  than  by  any 
sincerely  patriotic  motive.  Hence  it  came  about 
that  his  career  was  replete  with  inconsistencies. 
Measures  he  abhorred  when  others  were  in  control 
of  the  affairs  of  state,  William  Pitt  was  often  entirely 
ready  to  adopt  or  to  continue,  when  he  found  himself 
in  the  seats  of  the  mighty.  For  instance,  the  corner 
stone  of  his  vehement  opposition  in  1743,  was  the 
folly  of  subsidizing  Hanoverian  troops  to  defend  the 
King's  electoral  dominions,  but  three  years  later  he 
quietly  acquiesced  in  the  continuance  of  that  scheme 
by  a  ministry  in  which  he  held  office.  He  never 
murmured  against  the  Pelhams  when  they  closely 
followed  in  Walpole's  steps,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
his  own  speeches,  not  long  before,  had  condemned 
absolutely  the  policies  of  the  great  Whig.  Wise 
men  change  their  minds,  we  are  told;  but  in  Pitt's 
case  one  cannot  help  feeling  that  opposition  was  for 
opposition's  sake,  and  only  when  he  was  on  the  poli 
tical  bridge  did  the  man  take  a  statesmanlike  view 
of  the  situation. 

Another  concomitant  of  his  genius  was  Pitt's  ner 
vous     irritability,     a     misfortune    which     sometimes 


52  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

amounted  almost  to  insanity.  Lord  of  others,  he 
was  not  always  master  of  himself,  and  in  disciplining 
his  own  party  he  was  frequently  so  imperious  and 
dictatorial  that  one  would  have  thought  his  invectives 
were  directed  against  the  Opposition.  Often,  too, 
that  dramatic  power  which  served  him  so  well  in 
flights  of  eloquence  or  bursts  of  scorn  led  to  excesses 
which  made  the  Great  Commoner  ridiculous  and 
wellnigh  contemptible.  A  great  sufferer  from  gout, 
that  bane  and  torture  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Pitt  made  the  most  of  his  ill-health.  Displaying 
rather  than  concealing,  his  painful  malady,  he  de 
lighted  to  appear  the  heroic  patriot  whom  no  amount 
of  suffering  could  keep  from  the  performance  of  his 
duties.  Swathed  in  flannel  and  supporting  himself 
upon  the  familiar  crutch,  he  was  well  aware  of  the 
fact  that  he  presented  a  piteous  spectacle  in  the 
Commons  or  among  the  Peers.  This  ostentation 
was  part  and  parcel  of  his  delight  in  being  theatrical: 
although  many  of  his  deeds  were  noble  and  disin 
terested,  William  Pitt  never  lost  sight  of  the  effect 
which  they  might  produce.  Like  Disraeli  he  was 
always  acting  a  part  in  the  drama  of  life,  and  was 
ever  conscious  of  his  audience. 

Finally,  Pitt's  love  of  pomp  and  show  proclaimed 
him  a  parvenu.  Royalty  dazzled  him  to  an  incred 
ible  extent.  One  of  his  contemporaries  declared  that 
at  the  levee  he  bowed  so  low  one  could  see  the  tip 
of  his  hooked  nose  between  his  legs.1  Although  he 
had  spent  half  of  his  career  railing  at  the  Court, 

1  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  ii,  527. 


WILLIAM  PITT  53 

when  actually  brought  into  the  presence  of  royalty 
he  was  almost  unmanned;  and  when  at  the  height 
of  his  power  Pitt  received  a  few  words  of  commenda 
tion  from  George  III,  —  a  pygmy  in  comparison  with 
this  giant,  —  the  world-famous  minister  burst  into 
tears.  This  last  event  was  doubtless  due  to  Pitt's 
physical  condition,  for  at  that  moment  he  was  on 
the  verge  of  a  nervous  disorder  which  soon  after  laid 
him  prostrate;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  never  pos 
sessed  the  unconscious  majesty  of  a  Washington  or 
a  Wellington. 

Such  was  William  Pitt,  who,  in  spite  of  his  faults 
and  weaknesses,  was  a  very  great  man,  —  towering 
above  his  contemporaries  as  a  mammoth  pine  rises 
conspicuously  above  the  restless  tree-tops  of  the 
forest.  His  eloquence  has  become  proverbial;  his 
patriotism  was  matchless;  and  as  a  war  minister,  he 
displayed  a  genius  and  efficiency  which  made  the 
Bourbons  tremble  for  their  possessions  the  world 
over.  Take  him  for  all  in  all,  he  was  a  man,  and 
England  was  not  to  look  upon  his  like  again. 

Although  Pitt  was  now  securely  established  where 
he  could  govern  the  course  of  the  war,  the  first  six 
months  of  his  administration  saw  little  indication  of 
the  victorious  era  upon  which  Britain  was  about  to 
enter.  In  Germany,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland  laid  down  his  arms  in  an  ignominious 
capitulation.  On  the  French  coast,  an  expedition 
to  capture  Rochefort,  —  the  War  Minister's  pet 
project,  —  failed  because  of  lack  of  co-operation  be 
tween  army  and  navy.  From  America  came  even 


54  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

worse  tidings.  The  Marquis  de  Montcalm,  who 
had  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  French  forces 
in  the  New  World,  captured  Fort  William  Henry  at 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  George,  while  Lord  Lou- 
don,  the  British  commander-in-chief,  made  an  unsuc 
cessful  attempt  to  take  the  enemy's  stronghold  at 
Louisburg  on  Cape  Breton  Island.  The  autumn  of 
1757  was  indeed  a  season  of  depression  for  Pitt, 
relieved  only  by  the  news  of  dive's  astounding 
victory  over  the  natives  of  Bengal  and  their  ineffi 
cient  French  allies.  Truly  the  time  was  out  of  joint, 
and  it  was  Pitt's  task  to  set  it  right.  He  was  not 
long  in  formulating  a  new  policy  for  the  conduct  of 
the  war  in  America. 

The  campaign  of  1758  was  to  be  made  on  three 
main  lines.  In  the  first  place,  Fort  Duquesne  must 
be  captured,  and  a  hold  obtained  upon  the  Ohio 
Valley.  For  this  operation  Pitt  selected  Brigadier- 
General  John  Forbes,  a  man  of  more  than  sixty  years, 
who  had  begun  his  career  as  a  physician  but  now 
had  been  long  in  the  military  service  of  the  country. 
He  was  given  a  strong  regiment  of  Highlanders  and 
about  four  thousand  provincials  with  which  to  accom 
plish  the  purpose  that  had  brought  disaster  to  Brad- 
dock  three  years  before. 

Secondly,  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain,  the 
former  the  scene  of  the  recent  disaster  at  Fort  Wil 
liam  Henry,  the  latter  strongly  fortified  by  the  French 
at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  must  be  cleared  of 
the  enemy.  This  would  open  one  of  the  natural 
avenues  to  Canada,  and  relieve  New  York  from  the 


WILLIAM  PITT  55 

constant  encroachments  of  Montcalm.  Loudon,  who 
had  antagonized  the  colonists,  besides  showing  him 
self  to  be  woefully  incapable  in  a  military  way,  was 
recalled,  and  the  chief  command  devolved  upon 
Major-General  James  Abercromby.  So  far  the  latter 
had  done  nothing  to  win  distinction,  favorable  or 
unfavorable;  but  Horace  Walpole,  with  his  usual 
perspicacity,  declared  him  to  be  "a  commander 
whom  a  child  might  outwit,  or  terrify  with  a  pop 
gun,"1  a  characterization  destined  to  be  confirmed 
only  too  soon  by  disastrous  fadls. 

Finally  the  campaign  of  1758  included  an  attack 
upon  Louisburg,  which,  if  successful,  would  be  fol 
lowed  by  an  advance  against  Quebec  by  the  way  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.2  Of  the  three  operations  this  was 
the  most  important,  requiring  both  land  and  sea 
power.  The  military  force  assigned  to  it  counted 
fourteen  thousand  regulars,  supplemented  by  five 
hundred  provincials,  in  command  of  which  Pitt 
placed  Colonel  Jeffery  Amherst,  giving  him  the  rank 
of  major-general  in  America,  and  assigning  as  his 
assistants  three  brigadiers,  Whitmore,  Lawrence,  and 
his  old  friend  Wolfe.  Equally  auspicious  was  the 
appointment  that  entrusted  the  naval  part  of  the 
expedition  to  Admiral  Edward  Boscawen,  —  "Old 
Dreadnought,"  as  he  was  called  by  the  British  sea 
men,  who  had  abundant  confidence  in  his  well-known 
fighting  ability. 

This  was   the   plan   of  campaign   for   the   war   in 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole  (Toynbee  edition),  iv,  36. 
1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War,  i,  307. 


56  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

America  for  1758,  and  great  credit  has  ever  been 
given  to  Pitt  for  his  judicious  selection  of  officers  for 
the  Louisburg  expedition.  In  these  military  ap 
pointments,  unlike  that  of  Abercromby,  claims  of 
seniority  were  disregarded  whenever  they  clashed 
with  those  of  efficiency;  preferment  went  neither  by 
letter  nor  affection,  nor  "by  old  gradation,  where 
each  second  stood  heir  to  the  first,"  but  by  merit 
and  approved  worth.  This  principle  of  selection 
which  Pitt  inaugurated  fully  justified  itself  within 
the  year.  But  how  did  the  War  Minister,  master 
of  detail  though  he  was,  know  where  to  put  his 
finger  upon  the  right  man  for  every  important  com 
mand?  How  did  he  dare  appoint  to  the  leadership 
of  an  expedition  of  infinite  importance,  an  obscure 
colonel  who  had  obtained  a  regiment  scarcely  eigh 
teen  months  before?  The  answer  to  this  question  is, 
-  Sir  John  Ligonier. 

When  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  returning  from  an 
inglorious  summer's  work  in  Germany,  resigned  all 
his  offices  and  appointments,  Pitt  seized  the  oppor 
tunity  to  complete  his  absolute  control  of  the  war. 
What  he  particularly  needed  was  an  able  commander- 
in-chief,  one  who  knew  the  personnel  of  the  army  and 
the  merits  or  demerits  of  every  officer.  He  believed 
Sir  John  Ligonier  to  be  just  such  a  man  and  eagerly 
pressed  for  his  appointment,  before  the  old  King 
might  relent  and  re-instate  the  Butcher  of  Culloden. 
George  II  proved  tractable  except  upon  one  point. 
Whoever  became  chief  of  the  army  should  not  enjoy 
the  title  of  Captain-General  which  the  Duke  of 


WILLIAM  PITT  57 

Cumberland  had  so  recently  borne.1  It  is  difficult 
to  understand  precisely  the  grounds  for  the  King's 
objection,  but  probably  he  regarded  the  headship  of 
the  army  as  one  of  the  royal  prerogatives,  which  had 
fast  diminished  in  number  since  the  accession  of  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty.  Of  whatever  else  he  might  be 
robbed,  George  II,  remembering  his  military  prowess 
on  the  field  of  Dettingen,  would  never  part  with 
his  nominal  supremacy  in  the  army.  Charles  II 
might  grant  the  title  to  General  Monk  out  of  grati 
tude  for  the  Restoration;  William  might  confer  the 
compliment  upon  the  son  of  his  favorite  Lieuten 
ant  Schomberg;  and  Anne  might  donate  such  au 
thority  to  Marlborough;  but  the  soldier-king  would 
have  none  but  himself  or  one  of  his  immediate  family 
enjoy  the  dignity  of  being  Captain-General.  With 
the  resignation  of  Cumberland  the  office  passed 
out  of  existence  forever.  The  Cabinet  was  united 
upon  the  advisability  of  having  Ligonier  the  actual 
head  of  the  army,  with  or  without  the  title  which 
the  King  so  jealously  withheld,  and  through  the 
combined  efforts  of  Newcastle,  Hardwicke,  and  Pitt, 
the  hero  of  the  battle  of  Laffeldt  was  made  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  his  Majesty's  forces  in  Great 
Britain. 

For  the  War  Minister  the  new  appointment  was 
of  infinite  importance.  At  last  he  had  as  his  right- 
hand  man  a  brilliant  soldier,  —  and  one  who  believed 
thoroughly  in  the  new  military  policy.  Sir  John's 
first  duty  was  to  select  the  best  officers;  then  he  and 

1  Torrens'  History  of  Cabinfts,  ii,  426. 


58  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Pitt  would  fit  them  into  the  scheme  of  war.  Thus 
it  came  about  that  Ligonier  brought  forward  the 
name  of  Colonel  Amherst,  his  favorite  aide-de-camp 
in  the  previous  war,  who  was  then  hiding  his  mili 
tary  talent  in  Germany  as  commissary  to  the  Hes 
sian  soldiers  in  British  pay.  Pitt's  confidence  in  the 
judgment  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  unlimited. 
As  far  as  we  know,  he  had  never  heard  of  Jeffery 
Amherst;  but,  relying  upon  the  assurances  of  Lig 
onier,  he  determined  to  put  him  in  command  of  the 
expedition  against  Louisburg.  It  was  now  the  last 
week  of  December,  1757,  and  Pitt  was  anxious  to  see 
the  preparations  for  the  coming  year  under  way. 
Although  he  was  practically  Prime  Minister,  and  had 
complete  control  of  the  conduct  of  the  war,  the 
Great  Commoner  had  learned  by  experience  that  it 
was  never  safe  to  take  an  important  step  without 
the  consent  and  approval  of  his  colleagues.  The 
latter,  although  nonentities  in  themselves,  controlled 
Parliament,  and  unless  formally  bound  to  Pitt's 
policy,  might  leave  him  high  and  dry  at  any  time. 
Two  things  were  necessary,  —  the  sanction  of  the 
Cabinet  for  the  operations  planned,  and  the  King's 
consent  to  Colonel  Amherst's  sudden  elevation.  Both 
were  accomplished  before  the  end  of  the  dying  year. 
A  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  at  Lord  Holdernesse's 
was  called  for  the  evening  of  December  28,  but  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  was  entertaining  "the  Bishop  of 
Durham  and  some  other  company"  at  Claremont, 
and  begged  to  be  excused  from  attending.1  Pitt  was 

1  Additional  MS.  No.  32876,  (British  Museum). 


WILLIAM  PITT  59 

annoyed  and  somewhat  suspicious;  he  allowed  the 
Duke  to  remain  out  of  town  with  his  Christmas 
party,  but  took  care  to  secure  his  written  endorse 
ment  on  the  drafts  which  he  intended  to  submit  to 
the  Cabinet.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  Pitt's  plans 
for  the  North  American  campaign  of  1758  were  duly 
approved  by  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet,1  and  only  the 
King's  sanction  of  Amherst  was  needed  to  complete 
the  plan.  To  secure  this  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  small  amount  of  difficulty,  presumably  because 
of  the  obscurity  of  the  officer  in  question. 

The  task  was  undertaken  by  Sir  John  Ligonier 
who  was  quite  ready  to  stand  sponsor  for  his  one 
time  aide-de-camp.  On  December  30,  he  gained  the 
King's  ear  and  won  the  royal  consent  to  Amherst's 
employment  in  America.2  Thus  the  Colonel's  un 
looked-for  advancement  was  due  first  and  last  to  the 
interest  and  friendship  of  his  old  chief,  with  whom  he 
had  seen  service  at  Fontenoy.  In  writing  to  New 
castle  concerning  Ligonier's  good  offices  in  this  con 
nection,  Pitt  said:  "For  this,  and  for  how  many 
right  things  done  and  fatal  ones  prevented,  what  do 
we  owe  in  one  place."  How  well  might  Jeffery 
Amherst  have  spoken  the  same  words  of  the  same 
individual,  —  but  with  a  purely  personal  application! 

On  January  3,  1758,  an  order  was  signed  by  the 
Earl  of  Holdernesse  requiring  Amherst's  immediate 
presence  in  England.  A  month  later  he  was  on  his 

1  Ibid. 

8  Ibid.  See,  however,  Basil  Williams'  Life  of  William  Pitt,  i,  367,  which 
attributes  the  appointment  to  the  entreaties  of  Lady  Yarmouth. 


60  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

way  home,  awaiting  transportation  at  Ritzbiittel, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  where  Cuxhaven  with 
its  Hamburg-American  establishments  stands  to-day.1 
Arriving  in  London,  Amherst  was  subjected  to  a  few 
direct  questions  about  certain  bills  for  the  Hessians' 
forage,  aggregating  £200,000,  which  he  was  said  to 
have  contracted.  The  amount  due  was  unexpectedly 
large,  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  Baron  Mun- 
chausen,  the  Hanoverian  minister  in  London,  who 
rendered  the  account,  had  insisted  that  one  half  of 
it  must  be  remitted  by  the  next  post.  The  King 
summarily  ordered  the  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury 
to  provide  the  necessary  funds,  whereupon  New 
castle  showed  the  papers  to  Pitt,  for  he  was  cautious 
about  paying  bills  presented  by  anyone  other  than 
the  government's  authorized  agent,  Colonel  Amherst. 
The  Hanoverian's  name  is  suggestive  of  fiction  and 
Pitt  deemed  his  statement  exaggerated  to  say  the 
least.  Newcastle  made  a  partial  payment  by  for 
warding  £60,000  to  Amherst,  but  demanded  an  ex 
planation.2  Consequently  the  commissary  had  no 
sooner  set  foot  on  English  soil  than  he  was  called  to 
account  by  his  Grace.  The  contract,  expensive  as 
it  was,  proved  to  be  genuine,  and  the  agent  declared 
it  was  advantageous  to  the  government.  Newcastle 
was  embarrassed,  —  the  more  so  because  the  indig 
nant  War  Minister  obstinately  refused  to  fulfil  the 
demands  of  the  contract,3  —  but  before  the  matter 

1  State  Papers,  Foreign  Military  Expeditions,  Vol.  27,  in  the  Public  Record 
Office. 

2  Additional  MS.  No.  32877. 

3  Additional  MSS.,  Nos.  32878  and  32997. 


WILLIAM  PITT  61 

was  settled,  Amherst  was  hurried  off  to  Portsmouth 
where  H.  M.  S.  "Dublin,"  74,  was  waiting  to  convey 
him  to  America. 

Delay  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  defeat  in  the 
previous  year  and  Pitt  took  care  that  the  present 
attack  on  Louisburg  should  be  begun  as  soon  as  the 
season  permitted,  not  later  than  the  twentieth  of 
April.  This  would  insure  a  blockade  of  the  port 
before  the  enemy's  garrison  and  fleet  could  be  re- 
vidlualed  or  reinforced  from  France.  With  this  in 
view,  various  convoys  of  troops  destined  for  Cape 
Breton  were  got  under  way  early  in  February.  On 
the  24th,  Boscawen  cleared  the  Channel  and  stood 
out  to  sea  with  a  snug  fighting  force  composed  of 
ten  large  ships  of  the  line  and  five  or  six  frigates. 
The  transports  were  well  ahead  of  him,  bound  for  the 
rendezvous  at  Halifax,  where  certain  troops  winter 
ing  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  were  to 
concentrate  on  April  12.  To  insure  still  further  the 
success  of  the  expedition,  Vice-Admiral  Sir  Charles 
Hardy,  recently  Governor  of  New  York,  was  dis 
patched  to  Halifax  in  January  to  command  the  small 
squadron  there,  and  to  institute  a  preliminary  block 
ade  of  Louisburg.1 

Major-General  Amherst,  as  we  must  call  him  now, 
sailed  from  Portsmouth,  March  16,  1758,  on  board 
the  "Dublin,"  a  vessel  with  a  record  by  no  means 
enviable.  In  the  previous  summer  she  had  been  a 
part  of  the  fleet  told  off  for  the  attack  on  Rochefort, 
but  a  refractory  rudder  had  kept  the  ship  from  active 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War,  i,  313. 


62  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

service.  The  rest  of  the  season  the  "Dublin,"  was  a 
floating  pest-house  reeking  with  an  epidemic  fever.1 
Her  commander,  Captain  George  Brydges  Rodney, 
was  destined  to  become  the  most  famous  of  those 
English  admirals  who  raised  the  navy  to  the  level  at 
which  Nelson  found  it.  Twenty-four  years  later  he 
sat  in  an  armchair  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the  "For 
midable"  and  won  from  the  French  off  Dominica  the 
greatest  naval  victory  of  the  generation;  but  as  yet 
Rodney  had  failed  to  achieve  distinction.  He  was  a 
man  of  about  forty  years,  a  little  younger  than 
Amherst,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  his  later  habits 
of  extravagance,  he  enjoyed  good  living.  Since 
1751,  the  captain  of  the  "Dublin"  had  sat  in  the 
Commons  as  one  of  Newcastle's  dependents,  and  he 
had  been  careful  never  to  let  his  marine  duties  inter 
fere  with  this  comfortable  sinecure.  Whatever  his 
shortcomings  may  have  been,  Rodney  possessed 
abnormally  good  luck  and  no  small  amount  of  per 
sonal  courage.  When  the  "Dublin"  was  four  or  five 
days  out,  and  yet,  owing  to  various  kinds  of  wind 
and  weather,  found  herself  only  twenty  leagues  off 
Brest,  a  sail  was  seen  laying  to.  The  wind  blew  a 
gale  and  the  weather  was  thick,  but  as  soon  as  Rod 
ney  was  sure  that  it  was  an  enemy-ship,  he  deter 
mined  to  capture  it,  storm  or  no  storm.  The  vessel, 
which  was  armed  with  sixteen  six-pounders,  first 
hoisted  the  English  colors,  then  the  French.  There 
upon  the  "Dublin"  fired  upon  her.  The  sea  was  so 
rough  that  although  twenty-five  or  thirty  guns  were 

1  Hannay's  Rodney,  p.  49. 


WILLIAM  PITT  63 

discharged,  not  one  took  effect.  After  firing  three 
guns  and  a  few  small  arms  in  return  the  Frenchman 
struck.  It  proved  to  be  an  East  India  ship  laden 
with  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  coffee  and  a 
rich  cargo  of  rose-wood,  a  prize  of  no  small  value,  — 
whether  Rodney  was  right  in  prolonging  Amherst's 
journey  on  that  account  or  not.  The  "Dublin" 
being  alone,  her  captain  was  obliged  to  take  his 
booty  into  the  nearest  port  for  safe  keeping.  Rather 
than  return  to  Portsmouth,  he  turned  his  course  to 
the  Spanish  port  of  Vigo,  and  waited  there  till  he 
found  a  small  cruiser  to  take  charge  of  his  prize.1 
This  episode  retarded  Amherst's  already  belated 
voyage  by  at  least  two  weeks,  and  it  was  April  I 
before  the  "Dublin"  was  again  on  her  legitimate 
course. 

Until  the  era  of  the  American  clipper-ship,  west 
ward  transatlantic  voyages  were  incredibly  long. 
In  the  North  Atlantic  the  west  wind  never  owes  the 
east  wind  anything,  as  the  seamen  express  it,  and  a 
ship  bound  for  America  usually  encounters  head 
winds  almost  the  entire  distance.  Furthermore,  the 
route  from  England  to  the  New  World  was  pain 
fully  circuitous.  First  the  mariner  steered  south  by 
west  to  the  Canaries,  then  west  by  south  until  he 
guessed  that  he  must  be  about  five  hundred  leagues 
out  from  Ferro;  it  could  be  little  more  than  a  guess, 
for  as  yet  there  were  no  means  of  accurately  deter 
mining  one's  longitude  upon  the  high  seas.  From 

1  Gertrude  Selwyn  Kimball's  Correspondence  of  William  Pitt  with  Colonial 
Governors,  i,  218-220:  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven'  Tears  War>  i,  315. 


64  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

this  uncertain  point  the  prow  was  turned  toward  the 
northwest  with  the  hope  of  sighting  the  Bermudas 
before  many  days.  Such  was  the  course  of  the 
"Dublin,"  as  through  calms  and  storms  she  made 
her  tedious  way  across  the  ocean.1  April  came  and 
went,  and  yet  no  sign  of  land.  On  the  I7th  of  May, 
almost  nine  weeks  after  her  departure  from  Ports 
mouth,  the  man-of-war  ran  across  a  Virginia  ship 
bound  for  England.  Amherst  embraced  the  oppor 
tunity  to  send  a  letter  by  her  to  Pitt.  He  lamented 
the  long  delays  and  hoped  to  reach  Halifax  within  a 
day  or  two.  His  expectations  were  not  fulfilled, 
however,  for  contrary  winds  and  the  fogs  which 
abound  off  that  coast,  especially  during  the  spring, 
held  him  back  for  ten  days  more.  Finally,  on  May 
28,  the  long,  low  outline  of  Acadia  came  up  over  the 
horizon  and  was  silhouetted  against  the  western 
sky.2 

As  the  vessel  drew  nearer  to  the  shore,  Amherst 
beheld  a  myriad  of  sails  coming  out  of  the  harbor  of 
Halifax.  It  proved  to  be  Boscawen  with  the  fleet 
and  troops  bound  for  Louisburg.  The  admiral  had 
had  no  easy  crossing;  indeed,  Wolfe,  who  was  a 
notoriously  poor  sailor,  maintained  that  "from  Chris 
topher  Columbus'  time  to  our  days"  there  had  never 
been  "a  more  extraordinary  voyage."3  The  long 
passage,  which  was  made  by  the  same  route  pursued 
by  Amherst,  consumed  almost  three  months,  and 

1  Amberst  to  Pitt,  May  17,  1758,  Colonial  Office  Papers,  A.  and  W.  /.,  vol. 
53,  in  the  Public  Record  Office. 

2  KimbalPs  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  271. 

3  Willson's  Wolfe,  p.  363. 


WILLIAM  PITT  65 

Boscawen  did  not  reach  Halifax  until  the  second 
week  in  May.  There  he  waited  for  the  troops  from 
New  York  to  appear.  The  latter  arrived  a  few  days 
later,  but  when  at  last  everything  was  ready  for  the 
departure  for  Louisburg,  contrary  winds  kept  the 
flotilla  in  port  another  week. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  when  Boscawen,  in  order 
to  prevent  further  loss  of  time,  was  starting  for  Cape 
Breton  without  the  Commander-in-Chief,  the  "Dublin" 
met  the  expedition  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of 
Halifax.  With  business-like  promptness  Amherst  im 
mediately  transferred  himself  and  his  belongings  to 
the  flagship  "Namur,"  and  the  fleet  continued  on  its 
way  to  the  Dunkirk  of  America. 


CHAPTER  V 

LOUISBURG 

iHE  town  and  fortress  of  Louisburg  were  sit 
uated  on  a  tongue  of  land  projecting  from  the 
coast  of  Cape  Breton  Island.  This  peninsula 
and  a  corresponding  promontory  to  the  northeast 
narrow  the  entrance  to  a  well-sheltered  harbor,  which 
the  French  government  chose  for  a  naval  base  soon 
after  signing  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht.  No  expense 
was  spared  in  fortifying  the  place,  and  in  1745  Louis 
burg  was  reckoned  the  second  strongest  citadel  in 
North  America.  Nevertheless,  in  that  year  the  town 
was  captured  by  four  thousand  New  Englanders 
commanded  by  a  Kittery  merchant,  William  Pep- 
perrell.  Few  disasters  in  the  eighteenth  century  so 
rankled  in  the  hearts  of  Frenchmen  as  did  this  catas 
trophe,  and  hence  the  restoration  of  Louisburg  was 
practically  a  sine  qua  non  of  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle.  By  that  instrument  the  conquest  of  the 
provincials  was  undone.  The  island  fortress  was 
turned  over  to  its  founders  and  once  more  became  a 
menace  to  the  indignant  colonists.  All  these  events 
occurred  while  Amherst  was  an  aide-de-camp  to 
Ligonier,  and  later  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  in 
the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession. 

Since    1748,    the    stronghold    on    Cape    Breton    had 


LOUISBURG  67 

assumed  a  much  more  formidable  aspect.  The  town 
of  Louisburg  now  contained  about  four  thousand 
inhabitants.  Its  fortifications  were  more  than  a 
mile  and  a  half  in  length,  and  these,  supplemented 
by  the  Grand  Battery  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor,  and  by  the  Island  Battery  which  commanded 
the  entrance  to  the  port,  rendered  the  citadel  the 
strongest  in  French  or  British  America.  The  town 
itself  was  inconsequential,  containing  no  public  build 
ings  except  a  convent,  a  hospital,  the  King's  store 
houses  and  the  governor's  quarters.  There  were 
perhaps  a  dozen  private  houses  of  stone  in  the  place; 
the  rest  of  the  dwellings  were  the  humble  wooden 
abodes  of  fishermen.  The  military  establishment, 
however,  was  by  no  means  so  insignificant.  The 
garrison  consisted  of  more  than  three  thousand  well- 
disciplined  troops,  including  two  companies  of  artil 
lery.  In  addition  to  these  regular  forces  there  was  a 
body  of  armed  inhabitants  in  the  town  and  a  band 
of  Indians  skulking  outside.1  Nor  did  Louisburg 
lack  protection  from  an  attack  by  sea,  as  it  had 
in  the  siege  of  1745.  The  harbor  contained  a  fleet 
of  five  ships-of-the-line  and  seven  frigates  carrying 
about  three  thousand  men.  This  meant  a  naval 
strength  of  more  than  five  hundred  guns. 

Although  vast  sums  had  been  expended  upon 
strengthening  the  fortifications,  they  were  not  with 
out  their  weaknesses.  The  masonry  of  the  ramparts 
was  so  poor,  probably  owing  to  the  bad  quality  of 
the  mortar  used,  that  in  the  cannonading  of  the  next 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  57. 


68  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

six  weeks,  it  crumbled  under  the  concussion  of  its 
own  guns.1  In  some  places  bundles  of  sticks  were 
substituted  for  the  original  construction,  but  all  in 
all  Louisburg  deserved  to  be  called  the  Dunkirk  of 
America.  On  two  sides  the  triangular  promontory 
was  lapped  by  the  water  of  the  open  sea,  or  of  the 
harbor;  across  the  third  side  extended  the  strongest 
front  of  the  works,  reinforced  by  four  bastions,  one 
of  which  formed  a  part  of  the  citadel.  The  greatest 
strength  of  Louisburg  was  its  rock-bound  coast 
stretching  for  miles  in  either  direction,  and  only 
occasionally  relenting  sufficiently  to  afford  a  landing- 
place  for  friend  or  foe.  Drucour,  the  governor  of 
the  town,  took  precautions  to  have  all  these  acces 
sible  points  vigilantly  guarded,  and  in  this  attitude 
of  defence  he  awaited  the  coming  of  the  enemy. 

The  English  flotilla  of  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  ships,  presenting  a  splendid  spectacle  as  it 
departed  from  Halifax  on  the  morning  of  May  28, 
1758,  soon  separated  into  several  small  squadrons, 
with  the  men-of-war  leading  the  procession  towards 
Cape  Breton  Island.2  Fogs  hid  the  ships  at  times, 
but  they  managed  to  keep  near  enough  together  to 
prevent  many  from  being  lost,  and  on  the  evening 
of  the  fifth  day,  June  i,  General  Amherst  saw  the 
entrance  to  Gabarus  Bay,  a  deep  bight  bounded  on 
the  east  by  the  promontory  of  Louisburg.  The  next 
morning  an  impenetrable  fog  hung  over  the  water 
until  noon,  and  then  suddenly  rose,  disclosing  a  view 

1  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  ii,  321. 

2  A  Journal  of  the  Siege  and  Surrender  of  Louisburg,  etc.  (Boston,  1758). 


LOUISBURG  69 

of  the  town  and  of  the  ships  in  the  harbor.1  By  this 
time  the  British  fleet  had  cast  anchor  in  Gabarus 
Bay.  While  waiting  for  the  transports  to  come  up, 
for  only  one-third  of  them  had  arrived,  Amherst 
with  two  of  his  brigadiers,  Wolfe  and  Lawrence, 
reconnoitred  the  forbidding  shore,  and  in  the  evening 
searched  out  possible  landing  places.  If  the  troops 
arrived  in  time,  an  attempt  to  get  a  foothold  on  the 
island  would  be  made  in  the  morning.  Three  spots 
seemed  practicable,  although  it  was  clear  that  the 
French  had  thrown  up  works  and  had  placed  batter 
ies  to  command  these  vulnerable  points. 

On  the  morning  of  June  3,  most  of  the  missing 
transports  came  in,  but  in  his  plans  for  the  day  the 
General  had  not  taken  the  weather  into  account. 
Landing  on  this  rocky  island  was  difficult  under  the 
best  conditions,  and  now  it  was  rendered  almost 
impossible  by  "a  very  frightful  surf,"  to  use  the  words 
of  one  observer.  The  ships  rolled  prodigiously;  and, 
to  make  matters  worse,  a  dense  fog  settled  down  upon 
water  and  shore.  Disappointed  in  their  original  plan, 
the  men  on  the  frigates  amused  themselves  by  return 
ing  the  shots  which  the  enemy,  from  their  batteries, 
directed  towards  the  fleet.  By  way  of  experiment  a 
handful  of  soldiers  landed  under  the  fire  of  the  frig 
ates,  and  having  succeeded  in  getting  ashore,  re 
turned  immediately  to  the  ships.2  The  thing  could 
be  done,  but  Amherst  and  Boscawen  deemed  any 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  271. 

2  Journals  of  Captain  John  Montresor  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society's 
Collections  for  1881,  p.  157. 


yo  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

serious  attempt  as  yet  unwise.  The  whole  fleet  lay 
at  anchor  in  the  bay,  while  the  frigates  now  and 
then  returned  the  insults  of  the  enemy.  From  the 
British  decks  the  men  could  see  great  numbers  of 
Indians  along  the  spray-drenched  shore,  then  the 
town  with  its  pretentious  fortifications,  and  beyond 
the  citadel,  the  ships  in  the  harbor  of  Louisburg. 
One  of  the  enemy's  small  magazines  blew  up  and 
flared  the  news  of  its  destruction  through  the  fog; 
otherwise  the  day  passed  uneventfully. 

Every  longshoreman  of  our  northeast  coast  main 
tains  that  "a  fog  will  always  kick  up  a  sea"  and  no 
other  explanation  is  necessary  to  his  a  posteriori  way 
of  reasoning.  The  true  cause  of  the  phenomenon 
lies  not  in  the  fog,  but  in  the  dissipation  of  a  well- 
organized  storm  off  the  Banks,  or  to  the  southward. 
When  such  an  area  of  low  pressure  fills  up  and  be 
comes  stationary,  the  neighboring  coast  is  apt  to  get, 
for  days  at  a  time,  the  roll  which  survived  the  dying 
storm,  and  the  fog  which  hovered  over  its  watery 
grave.  Such  seems  to  have  been  the  meteorological 
conditions  off  Cape  Breton  Island  in  the  first  week  of 
June,  1758.  Day  after  day  the  fog-swathed  ships 
rolled  and  creaked  at  anchor  in  Gabarus  Bay,  while 
the  roar  of  the  breakers  along  the  rocky  shore  was  in 
cessant.  Once  the  weather  gave  promise  of  a  change 
and  Amherst  hurried  his  men  into  the  boats.  Then 
the  fog  came  in  again  and  the  swell  increased  until 
the  Admiral  discouraged  further  prosecution  of  the 
attempt.  In  the  meanwhile  the  Frenchmen  were 
busily  reinforcing  their  works.  Occasionally  they 


LOUISBURG  71 

cannonaded  the  ships,  and  any  British  boat  that 
attempted  to  reconnoitre  was  sure  of  a  smart  fire 
from  the  enemy. 

On  the  evening  of  the  seventh  there  was  every 
indication  of  better  weather,  and  Amherst  gave 
orders  for  a  general  landing  to  be  made  the  next 
morning  at  dawn,  the  disembarkation  to  be  accom 
plished  in  profound  silence  in  order  to  surprise  the 
enemy.  When  Amherst,  Wolfe,  and  Lawrence  had 
scrutinized  the  shore,  almost  a  week  before  this 
time,  they  had  pitched  upon  three  points  where 
attacks  might  be  made  with  some  hope  of  success. 
These  accessible  places  were  two  little  bays  in  Fresh 
water  Cove,  about  four  miles  from  Louisburg,  and 
an  inlet  sheltered  by  White  Point  which  was  much 
nearer  the  fortifications  of  the  town.  Amherst  deter 
mined  to  divide  the  forces  into  three  divisions  and 
to  threaten  all  three  places  at  once.  One  of  his 
brigadiers,  Whitmore,  was  to  proceed  towards  White 
Point,  while  Wolfe  and  Lawrence  made  the  real 
attack  and  attempted  to  force  a  landing  at  Fresh 
water  Cove.  At  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  June 
8,  the  troops  were  in  the  boats.  Some  of  the  frig 
ates  edged  in  to  attack  the  French  entrenchments 
and  to  cover  the  landing  of  the  soldiers,  and  after 
these  had  engaged  the  enemy  for  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  the  boats  put  off  for  the  shore. 

Wolfe's  division,  which  contained  a  corps  of  marks 
men  and  the  New  England  rangers,  had  the  shortest 
course  to  land.  The  enemy  aded  wisely  and  re 
served  their  fire  until  the  invaders  were  almost  in 


72  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

shore.  Then  from  their  entrenchments,  artfully  con 
cealed  by  spruces  and  firs,  came  a  deadly  fire  of 
cannon  and  musketry.  The  flag-staff  of  Wolfe's 
boat  was  snapped  off  by  a  swivel-shot,  but  to  a  man 
of  his  spirit  this  was  only  part  of  the  fun.  When 
things  looked  very  black  for  the  English,  a  boat 
load  of  light  infantry  spied  a  rocky  inlet  which  was 
sheltered  from  the  French  artillery,  and  immediately 
changed  their  course  and  made  for  this  spot.  The 
officers  leaped  ashore  and  their  men  succeeded  in 
doing  likewise,  but  the  next  boat  was  caught  by  the 
breakers  and  crashed  upon  the  rocks.  Major  Scott, 
who  commanded  the  light  infantry,  gained  the  land, 
however,  and  scrambled  up  the  crags  with  ten  fol 
lowers.  There  he  came  face  to  face  with  about 
seventy  Frenchmen  and  Indians.  A  desperate  struggle 
for  a  foothold  ensued,  in  which  three  bullets  were 
shot  through  the  gallant  Major's  clothes,  and  five  of 
his  men  were  killed  or  wounded;  but  Scott  stood  his 
ground  with  a  resolution  worthy  of  Snowdon's  knight. 
In  the  meantime  Wolfe  signalled  to  the  rest  of  the 
detachment  to  follow  the  light  infantry  and  effedl 
a  landing  in  the  rock-bound  cove.  Many  of  the 
boats  were  staved  upon  the  rocks,  but  the  men 
leaped  into  surf  up  to  their  waists,  and  waded  to  the 
shore.  Some  poor  wretches  were  caught  by  the 
undertow  and  were  sucked  back  into  the  breakers, 
where  they  perished.  Brigadier  Wolfe  was  among 
the  first  to  jump  from  his  boat,  and  armed  with 
only  a  cane  was  soon  scaling  the  slippery  rocks. 
Forming  the  soldiers  who  followed  him  in  this  spec- 


LOUISBURG  73 

tacular  landing,  the  dashing  commander  charged  the 
nearest  French  battery  and  carried  it  with  the  bay 
onet.  After  that  the  British  were  secure  in  their 
position. 

The  other  detachments,  those  under  Lawrence  and 
Whitmore,  which  were  to  make  a  feint  at  landing 
at  other  points  along  the  coast,  also  succeeded  in 
their  design.  By  rowing  along  the  shore  they  diverted 
the  attention  of  the  enemy  from  any  one  place  until 
Wolfe  had  made  good  his  landing  at  Freshwater 
Cove.  Then  they  turned  westward  and  disembarked 
at  a  little  beach,  with  very  little  opposition  from  the 
distracfled  French. 

Now  the  enemy  were  attacked  upon  right  and  left 
and  there  was  danger  of  their  being  cut  off  from  the 
town.  Amherst  himself  came  ashore,  while  the  boats 
plied  busily  between  the  ships  and  the  land,  un 
loading  regiment  after  regiment  upon  the  Island  of 
Cape  Breton.  The  French  were  thoroughly  terrified. 
Abandoning  their  cannon,  mortars,  tools,  stores,  and 
ammunition,  they  at  first  retreated,  and  then  fled,  in 
the  direction  of  Louisburg.  Wolfe  gave  chase  through 
the  rough  growth,  which  to  Amherst's  European  eyes 
appeared  to  be  the  worst  battle-ground  he  had  ever 
seen.1  The  pursuit  ended  with  a  cannonade  from  the 
town,  which  was  helpful  rather  than  otherwise,  as  it 
gave  the  General  a  clue  to  the  enemy's  range,  and 
thus  determined  to  some  extent  the  site  for  his  camp. 

The  initial  operations  against  Louisburg  had  been 
decidedly  successful.  In  the  process  of  landing  and 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  274. 


74  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

in  the  skirmish  which  followed,  the  British  lost  only 
about  one  hundred  men,  killed  and  wounded.  Al 
though  some  were  drowned  in  the  surf,  the  very  size 
of  the  waves  was  a  protection  to  the  troops,  for 
many  a  well-directed  ball  failed  of  its  mark  owing  to 
the  sudden  rise  or  fall  of  the  boats  in  the  heavy 
swell.1  The  French  lost  several  men  killed,  and 
seventy  were  taken  prisoners.  All  things  considered, 
the  issue  of  the  morning  of  June  8  was  thoroughly 
satisfactory,  and  all  had  been  accomplished  before 
half-past  eight  o'clock.  The  rest  of  the  day  would 
naturally  have  been  devoted  to  landing  tents  and 
provisions,  guns  and  stores,  but  the  fickle  weather 
turned  against  the  English  once  more.  The  wind 
increased,  the  waves  mounted  higher  than  ever,  and 
all  communication  with  the  fleet  was  cut  off.  With 
out  tents,  and  enjoying  a  very  short  allowance  of 
provisions,  the  soldiers  were  far  from  comfortable  for 
several  days  and  nights.  Meanwhile,  Amherst,  es 
tablishing  his  camp  just  beyond  range  of  the  French 
cannon,  commenced  the  actual  siege  of  Louisburg. 

With  such  a  disparity  of  numbers  as  the  French 
and  British  forces  presented,  there  could  be  little 
doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  outcome  of  the  investment. 
Within  the  fortified  town  Drucour  could  count  only 
about  four  thousand  fighting  men,  while  the  besieg 
ing  host  numbered  between  eleven  and  twelve  thou 
sand,  all  except  five  hundred  of  whom  were  regulars. 
From  the  decks  of  the  twelve  French  ships  of  war  at 

1  Captain  John  Knox's  Historical  Journal  of  the  Campaigns  in  North 
America,  i,  193. 


LOUISBURG  75 

anchor  in  the  harbor,  the  officers  could  see  the  Brit 
ish  armada  of  forty  armed  vessels  of  various  de 
scriptions,  from  the  flagship  "Namur,"  of  ninety 
guns,  to  the  fireships  "^Etna"  and  "Lightning," 
carrying  only  eight  guns  each.  A  few  days  after  the 
landing  of  the  English  troops  Sir  Charles  Hardy's 
squadron,  which  had  hovered  off  Cape  Breton  since 
early  spring,  appeared  in  the  bay  and  completed 
Boscawen's  fleet.1  One  of  the  newcomer's  ships,  the 
"Captain,"  is  of  particular  interest  to  us  because  it 
was  commanded  by  John  Amherst,  the  General's 
brother.  Louisburg  was  an  old  story  to  John,  for  his 
ship  had  been  part  of  the  ill-conducted  expedition 
under  Lord  Loudon  and  Admiral  Holburne  in  the 
previous  autumn,  when  the  fleet  encountered  a  ter 
rific  storm  in  these  very  waters.2  In  the  spring  of 
1758  the  "Captain"  had  again  come  hither,  —  this 
time  in  Sir  Charles  Hardy's  squadron,  which  was 
intended  to  prevent  the  revicfhialing  or  reinforce 
ment  of  the  island  garrison,  and  which  now  united 
with  the  rest  of  the  fleet  to  prosecute  the  siege  of 
Louisburg. 

So  long  as  any  part  of  the  army  was  tentless, 
Amherst  refused  to  proceed  with  his  operations.  On 
the  eleventh  of  June  communication  with  the  fleet 
was  easier  and  things  began  to  straighten  themselves 
out.  That  evening  the  glare  of  flames  to  the  north 
east  blazed  out  the  news  of  an  event  as  important 
as  it  was  unexpected:  the  enemy  had  abandoned  the 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  282. 

2  Robert  Beatson's  Naval  and  Military  Memoirs,  iii,  164. 


76  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Grand  Battery  after  setting  fire  to  the  buildings  it 
contained,  and  to  the  huts  and  fish-houses  fringing 
the  water's  edge.1  This  fortification  stood  on  the 
north  shore  of  the  harbor  opposite  the  entrance,  where 
it  could  greet  with  a  terrific  front  fire,  any  hostile 
squadron  trying  to  force  its  way  in.  Formidable  as 
it  was  to  naval  force,  in  case  of  land  attack  the  post 
was  helpless.  This  had  been  conclusively  proved  in 
1745  when  it  was  deserted  at  the  first  approach  of 
the  enterprising  provincials,  who,  by  the  way,  ef 
fected  their  landing  on  the  island  at  almost  the  same 
spot  where  Wolfe  and  his  companions  were  hurled 
ashore  by  the  breaking  waves  thirteen  years  later. 
In  the  first  siege  of  Louisburg  the  abandonment  of 
the  Grand  Battery  had  been  the  decisive  event  of 
the  campaign,2  for  thereby  the  New  Englanders 
gained  possession  of  what  they  most  lacked,  —  artil 
lery,  competent  to  do  the  work  before  them.  To 
guard  against  a  repetition  of  this  blunder,  Drucour 
took  care  to  destroy  the  fort  and  to  mutilate  or 
carry  away  its  equipment  before  Amherst  forced  his 
hand.  Against  such  odds  discretion  was  the  better 
part  of  valor.  The  French  governor  called  in  his 
outposts,  and  Louisburg,  tortoise-like,  retired  into 
its  shell. 

The  destruction  of  the  Grand  Battery  was  Am- 
herst's  cue  for  an  attack  upon  the  fortified  island  in 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  When  this  and  the  French 
fleet  were  disposed  of,  Boscawen  might  enter  the  land- 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  64. 

1  Parkman's  Half-Century  of  Conflifl,  ii,  102. 


LOUISBURG  77 

locked  haven  with  impunity  and  let  loose  his  cannon 
upon  the  unprotected  town.  With  this  object  in 
view,  on  the  morning  after  the  conflagration,  Amherst 
detached  Brigadier  Wolfe  with  twelve  hundred  men, 
to  skirt  the  water-front  and  seize  Lighthouse  Point 
opposite  Louisburg.  This  promontory  corresponded 
to  that  where  the  town  stood  and  co-operated  with  it 
in  sheltering  the  harbor  from  the  sweep  of  the  open 
sea.  From  shore  to  shore  the  distance  here  was 
perhaps  a  mile,  and  in  midstream  lay  the  Island 
Battery.  Amherst  gave  his  brigadier  additional  in 
structions  to  attempt  to  destroy  the  enemy's  ships 
which  were  riding  at  anchor  in  the  port.  While 
Wolfe  circled  the  harbor  by  land,  the  General  sent 
artillery  and  tools  by  sea,  to  await  the  Brigadier  at 
Lorambec,  a  fishing  village  on  the  way  to  his  des 
tination. 

The  enterprise  was  eminently  successful.  Wolfe 
reached  Lighthouse  Point  that  same  day,  and  there 
took  possession  of  a  battery  recently  abandoned  by 
the  French.  In  the  course  of  a  week  he  planted  guns 
and  mortars  along  the  harborside  as  well  as  on  Light 
house  Hill,  and  on  the  night  of  the  nineteenth  of 
June  the  new  posts  opened  fire  on  the  French  ships. 
This  was  a  reversal  of  Amherst's  plan,  but  the  Brig 
adier  had  determined  that  the  destruction  of  the  men- 
of-war  should  precede  the  suppression  of  the  guns  on 
the  island.1  The  enemy  returned  the  compliment 
from  the  squadron,  from  the  Island  Battery,  and 
even  from  the  town.  Des  Gouttes,  who  commanded 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War,  i,  324. 


78  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  fleet,  realized  his  danger  at  once  and  retired  the 
ships  as  close  as  possible  under  the  walls  of  the  town. 
To  guard  against  fire,  the  decks  were  piled  with 
cordage  and  bales  of  tobacco,  and  Wolfe  soon  found 
that  he  could  make  no  impression  in  that  quarter. 
He  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  rocky  islet  in 
the  harbor's  mouth  and  cannonaded  it  with  a  right 
good  will.  Day  and  night  the  bombardment  con 
tinued  until  the  evening  of  the  twenty-fifth,  when 
the  British  succeeded  in  silencing  the  shattered 
Island  Battery.  Then  leaving  a  few  men  at  the 
Point,  with  some  ship-guns,  to  prevent  the  French 
from  repairing  their  demolished  works  and  batteries, 
Amherst's  right-hand  man  rejoined  the  army  in  front 
of  the  town. 

While  these  brilliant  events  were  taking  place  to 
the  eastward  of  Louisburg,  General  Amherst  was 
primarily  occupied  with  landing  provisions,  stores, 
and  artillery,  an  undertaking  of  so  great  difficulty, 
owing  to  the  boisterous  waves,  that  over  one  hun 
dred  boats  were  lost  in  its  accomplishment.  On  the 
eighteenth  of  June,  in  company  with  Colonel  Bastide, 
the  General  reconnoitred  the  ground  between  the 
English  camp  and  the  town.  The  terrain  was  by  no 
means  encouraging.  Captain  Knox,  the  soldier- 
historian  of  the  war,  described  it  as  "a  vile  country, 
partly  rough,  but  in  general  swampy."1  The  British 
troops  were  encamped  about  two  miles  from  the 
fortress  upon  a  wooded  slope,  down  which  flowed  a 
stream  supplying  them  with  good  water.  Between 

1  Knox's  Historical  Journal,  i,  193. 


LOUISBURG  79 

this  ground  and  the  bastions  of  Louisburg  there  was 
a  wide  marsh,  which  terminated  in  terra  firma  with 
occasional  hillocks,  less  than  a  half-mile  from  the 
ramparts.  Bastide,  who  was  the  chief  engineer  of 
the  expedition,  declared  that  the  trenches  should  be 
opened  on  one  of  these  knolls  called  Green  Hill. 
Before  this  could  be  done,  however,  a  road  must  be 
made  across  the  swamp-land  so  that  artillery  and 
stores  could  be  forwarded  without  danger  or  delay. 
Here,  thirteen  years  before,  Pepperrell's  energetic 
rustics  watched  one  of  their  cannon  sink  to  the  hubs 
of  its  wheels  in  the  mud  and  moss,  and  finally  drop 
completely  out  of  sight.1  A  piece  of  Yankee  inge 
nuity  had  saved  the  situation  then,  but  Amherst  with 
unlimited  means  at  his  disposal  determined  to  con- 
stru<ft  a  road  protected  by  an  epaulment,  or  lateral 
earthwork,  which  would  shield  the  men  from  the 
raking  fire  of  the  "Arethuse,"  a  vexatious  frigate  in 
the  upper  harbor. 

The  road  to  Green  Hill  was  begun  at  once  and 
pushed  on  as  fast  as  possible.  On  the  first  day  four 
hundred  men  toiled  at  the  construction  from  four  in 
the  morning  until  one  in  the  afternoon,  when  they 
were  relieved  by  a  party  of  equal  number  who  con 
tinued  the  work  until  ten  o'clock  at  night.  The 
long  June  days  of  this  northern  latitude  were  used 
to  their  best  advantage  by  the  resolute  General. 
Now  and  then  the  enemy  cannonaded  the  workmen 
and  the  camp  itself,  but  the  progress  towards  Green 
Hill  went  steadily  and  relentlessly  on,  until  the  eve- 

1  Parkman's  Half-Century  of  Conflift,  ii,  105. 


80  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

ning  of  June  26  saw  a  British  lodgment  effected  on 
the  appointed  hillock.1 

Amherst's  camp  was  not  entirely  free  from  mis 
fortune,  in  spite  of  its  commander's  care  and  pre 
caution.  Among  the  provincials  attached  to  the 
expedition  was  a  band  of  New  England  carpenters, 
about  one  hundred  in  number,  under  the  conduct 
of  Colonel  Messerve  of  New  Hampshire.  While 
this  Yankee  delegation  was  on  its  way  to  Louisburg 
"one  Eliot  of  hallifax  [who]  came  with  us  was  taken 
with  ye  Smalpox."2  As  if  this  were  not  enough, 
their  ship  lost  the  rest  of  the  armada  in  the  fog,  and 
when  the  weather  cleared  they  "saw  none  of  ye 
fleet."  The  next  day  the  captain  "spoke  with  a 
frigat  and  she  said  ye  fleet  had  got  in  and  we  was 
15  Leags  Distance  and  Dam'd  us  and  then  he  left 
us."  Contagion  plus  anathema  made  short  work  of 
the  unfortunate  carpenters.  Within  two  weeks 
after  their  landing  on  the  island,  all  but  sixteen  of 
the  one  hundred  and  eight  men  were  stricken  with 
smallpox.  Among  those  who  succumbed  to  the 
dread  disease  were  the  leader  and  his  eldest  son. 
Colonel  Messerve,  though  a  shipwright  by  profession, 
had  acquired  a  handsome  fortune  and  his  death  was 
a  great  loss  to  New  Hamphsire.3 

When  Wolfe  shattered  the  Island  Battery,  the 
French  governor  very  naturally  expected  that  Bos- 
cawen  would  follow  up  this  advantage  by  a  naval 

1  Montresors  Journals,  p.  164. 

2  Diary  of  Nathaniel  Knap,  in  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  in  Massa 
chusetts  Publications,  No.  2. 

3  Jeremy  Belknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire,  ii,  301. 


LOUISBURG  81 

attack  upon  the  men-of-war  in  the  harbor.  To  pre 
vent  such  a  calamity  Drucour  resorted  to  heroic 
measures.  On  the  evening  of  June  29,  under  cover 
of  the  darkness  and  fog,  the  enemy  sank  four  of 
their  ships  in  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  One  of  them 
was  the  "Apollon,"  of  fifty  guns,  while  the  others 
were  less  of  a  sacrifice.1  The  haven  was  now  con 
sidered  safe  from  any  design  which  the  English 
admiral  might  have  upon  it,  but  as  yet  Boscawen 
entertained  no  idea  of  threading  the  treacherous 
channel  in  order  to  demolish  his  doomed  opponent. 
While  Hardy's  squadron  patrolled  the  open  sea  about 
the  entrance  to  the  harbor  and  picked  off  the  enemy's 
ships  one  by  one,  whenever  they  attempted  to  es 
cape,  "Old  Wry-necked  Dick,"  as  Boscawen  was 
occasionally  referred  to  by  the  seamen,  converted  his 
sailors  into  marines,  and  lent  Amherst  several  large 
guns  from  the  fleet  to  be  used  in  the  batteries.  He 
preferred  to  bombard  the  French  ships  from  the 
shore,  and  he  did  so  most  successfully.  The  co-op 
eration  and  harmony  between  the  Admiral  and  the 
Major-General  excited  the  admiration  of  all,  includ 
ing  even  the  impatient  and  hypercritical  Wolfe.2 

The  siege  progressed  without  any  serious  set-back. 
On  the  night  of  the  ninth  of  July  the  French  rushed 
forth  in  a  desperate  sortie  from  the  town,  and  sur 
prised  some  of  the  British;  but  it  availed  them  little 
in  the  end.  The  enemy's  men  were  shamefully  drunk 
and  when  once  routed  fired  upon  each  other,  an  error 
whereby  they  lost  more  in  killed  and  wounded  than 

1  Beatson's  Memoirs,  iii,  179.  2  Willson's  Wolfe,  p.  388. 


82  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

did  the  English.1  Yet  the  hostilities  were  not  with 
out  a  gentler  side.  Drucour,  for  instance,  wrote  to 
Amherst  that  Louisburg  contained  a  surgeon  of  great 
skill  whom  he  would  gladly  lend  to  any  English 
officer  who  might  require  his  services.  On  his  side 
the  Briton  allowed  wounded  prisoners  to  send  mes 
sages  and  letters  through  the  lines  to  their  beleaguered 
friends.  Upon  another  occasion  the  General  expressed 
his  regret  for  the  discomfort  to  which  Madame  Dru 
cour  was  necessarily  subjected  by  the  vicissitudes  of 
war,  and  accompanied  his  words  with  some  pine 
apples  from  the  West  Indies.  The  lady  recipro 
cated  by  sending  him  fifty  bottles  of  wine.  Amherst 
apparently  approved  of  the  exchange  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  sent  another  instalment  of  fruit  to  the 
governor's  wife.  This  time  Drucour  gave  the  mes 
senger  two  gold-pieces  for  conveying  his  acknowl 
edgment  to  Amherst,  —  but  no  wine,  for  he  feared 
that  his  cellar  would  soon  be  empty  if  such  courtesies 
continued.2  More  important  were  the  tentative  nego 
tiations  between  the  two  commanders  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  Drucour  requested 
that  the  French  hospital  be  exempt  from  British 
fire.  Amherst  replied  that  in  the  case  of  so  small  a 
town  he  could  scarcely  guarantee  that  any  part 
would  be  free  from  shot  and  shell;  but  if  the  French 
cared  to  remove  their  disabled  to  an  island  in  the 
harbor's  mouth,  or  to  a  ship,  he  would  gladly  permit 
them  to  do  so.  For  some  inscrutable  reason  the 

1  Montresors  Journals,  p.  184:   and  Knox's  Journal,  i,  194. 

2  Waddington's  Guerre  de  Sept  Ans,  ii,  351. 


LOUISBURG  83 

governor  declined  to  avail  himself  of  this  privilege. 
Wolfe  was  quite  right  in  declaring,  "When  the  French 
are  in  a  scrape,  they  are  ready  to  cry  out  in  behalf 
of  the  human  species;  when  fortune  favours  them, 
none  more  bloody,  more  inhuman."1 

The  British  lines  crept  closer  and  closer  to  the 
doomed  fortress  and  their  fire  became  proportionally 
more  deadly.  At  dusk  on  the  sixteenth  of  July, 
Wolfe  made  a  sudden  dash  forward  and  seized  a  bit 
of  rising  ground  within  three  hundred  yards  of  one 
of  the  bastions  of  Louisburg.  In  vain  the  guns  of 
the  town  poured  forth  grape-shot  upon  the  daring 
invaders.  With  pick  and  spade  the  dirt  flew  all 
night,  and  when  morning  came  the  English  sappers 
were  still  burrowing  on  towards  the  rampart.  The 
cannonading  and  firing  of  musketry  grew  hotter  and 
hotter  on  both  sides.  Amherst  was  indefatigable. 
Visiting  the  outposts  and  the  batteries  every  day, 
he  was  constantly  reconnoitering  to  discover  some 
new  point  from  which  to  assail  the  enemy  and  accel 
erate  the  siege.2 

The  twenty-first  of  July  was  an  eventful  day.  In 
the  afternoon  one  of  Wolfe's  shells  dropped  on  the 
poop  of  the  "Celebre."3  With  a  deafening  roar  her 
magazine  exploded,  and  soon  the  ship  was  in  flames. 
The  fire  spread  to  the  sails;  ablaze  she  drifted  from 

1  Willson's  Wolfe,  p.  379.  2  Knox's  Journal,  i,  195. 

8  Montresor's  Journals  pp.  170,  185.  Of  this  incident  Knap's  Journal 
gives  an  account,  as  vivid  as  it  is  illiterate.  "General  Wolfe  hove  a  Shell  on 
board  one  of  ye  Men  of  war  and  blew  her  up  and  Ketcht  on  fire  and  she 
Ketcht  2  more  on  fire  and  they  were  burnt  Down.  By  night  there  was  but 
2  ships  Left  in  ye  harbour  and  there  was  12  or  14  when  we  Came  in." 


84  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

her  moorings  while  the  English  concentrated  their 
shot  and  shell  upon  the  helpless  man-of-war  to  pre 
vent  the  boats  and  towns-people  from  going  to  her 
rescue.  Soon  two  more  ships  were  on  fire,  for  the 
flames  from  the  "Celebre"  spread  to  the  canvas  of 
her  sisters  the  "Entreprenant"  and  the  "Capricieux." 
The  cables  of  the  menacing  craft  were  speedily  cut 
and  the  vessels  drifted  listlessly  into  the  upper  har 
bor.  There  the  blazing  trio  ran  aground  and  burned 
to  the  water's  edge.  Of  the  French  squadron  only 
two  ships,  the  "Prudent"  and  the  " Bienfaisant," 
remained  to  bid  defiance  to  the  oncoming  English. 

The  siege  now  rushed  towards  its  inevitable  con 
clusion.  Event  followed  event  in  such  close  sequence 
that  the  besieged  were  frantic  with  apprehension. 
On  the  morning  after  the  burning  of  the  ships,  the 
English  dropped  a  shell  into  the  citadel  of  Louisburg. 
Crashing  through  the  roof,  the  missile  plunged  into 
a  room  full  of  soldiers,  and  exploded  in  their  midst. 
At  once  that  part  of  the  building  which  was  of  wood 
burst  into  flames:  the  fire  spread  rapidly,  consuming 
the  chapel  and  all  the  northern  part  of  the  citadel. 
Soldiers  and  sailors  hurried  to  the  spot  to  put  out  the 
conflagration,  but  the  British  showered  missiles  re 
lentlessly  in  that  direction.  Sheets  of  flame  and 
clouds  of  smoke  swept  towards  a  wooden  barrier 
which  shielded  the  casemates  under  the  ramparts 
from  exploding  shells.  If  this  took  fire,  the  wounded 
soldiers  and  non-combatants  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  subterranean  chambers  would  be  in  danger  of 
suffocation.  Those  who  had  legs  used  them,  and 


LOUISBURG  85 

rushed  forth  into  the  chaos  of  flames  and  flying  iron, 
the  women  and  children  shrieking  with  terror.1  The 
enemy  put  up  a  gallant  fight,  nevertheless.  They 
fired  well  from  the  town,  throwing  shells  into  the 
English  works  and  dismounting  at  least  two  guns.2 
One  of  their  shot  went  into  the  muzzle  of  a  British 
twenty-four  pounder  and  stuck  there  as  if  purposely 
rammed  in.  Amherst's  batteries  were  more  de 
structive  than  those  of  the  French,  however,  and  once, 
while  the  enemy  were  firing  "all  sorts  of  old  iron  and 
any  stuff  they  could  pick  up,"  the  British  hurled  a 
shell  filled  with  combustibles  into  a  range  of  barracks 
in  the  town.  The  building  was  a  flimsy  affair  and 
burned  like  tinder.  Realizing  its  nature,  the  French 
garrison  had  vacated  it,  and  were  now  lying  in  the 
streets,  or  in  any  place  which  offered  protection 
from  the  rain  of  bombs  with  which  Wolfe  pelted 
them.  Their  evacuation  took  place  none  too  soon, 
for  now  night  was  turned  into  day  by  the  glare  of 
the  crackling  conflagration.  Mortars  roared,  cannon- 
balls  screamed  through  the  air,  and  the  snapping  of 
musketry  from  the  ramparts  was  continuous. 

At  last  the  enemy's  fire  grew  daily  weaker;  and 
well  it  might,  for  almost  one-fourth  of  the  besieged 
were  in  the  hospitals.  The  rest,  wellnigh  exhausted, 
continued  the  hopeless  defence.  On  the  twenty- 
fourth  there  were  only  four  cannon  in  commission 
on  the  west  wall  of  the  town,  and  the  French  de 
pended  chiefly  upon  small  arms  which  they  used 
through  the  embrasures,  while  the  English  continued 

1  Montresors  Journals,  p.  171.  2  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  305. 


86  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

their  bombardment  without  ceasing.  The  condi 
tion  of  Louisburg  was  pitiable.  Each  cannon-shot 
from  the  British  batteries  shook  its  ruinous  walls 
and  brought  down  great  masses  of  the  tottering 
structures.1  Shot  and  shell  poured  in  upon  every 
part  of  the  town,  and  whenever  a  few  brave  spirits 
endeavored  to  return  the  fire  from  their  remaining 
guns,  they  were  beaten  back  by  a  deluge  of  bullets 
from  the  British  musketry,  which  had  now  pressed 
close  upon  the  ramparts.  But  one  event  remained 
to  complete  the  downfall  of  the  Dunkirk  of  America. 
This  was  the  capture  or  destruction  of  the  two  sur 
viving  men-of-war  which  lay  huddled  together  under 
the  French  batteries  on  the  harbor  side  of  the  town. 
Just  before  daybreak  on  July  26,  Admiral  Bos- 
cawen  sent  a  flotilla  manned  by  six  hundred  sailors 
to  take  or  burn  the  "  Prudent "  and  the  "Bienfai- 
sant."  The  harbor  was  enshrouded  in  a  dense  fog, 
and  as  the  boats  pushed  softly  from  shore,  Amherst 
opened  fire  upon  the  works  from  every  battery,  in 
order  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  enemy.  The 
French  men-of-war  were  completely  surprised,  and 
surrendered  with  scarcely  a  blow.  The  tide  being 
low,  the  "Prudent"  was  aground.  Allowing  her 
crew  to  escape  to  the  shore  in  boats,  the  boarders 
set  the  ship  on  fire.  While  she  burned  at  anchor, 
making  the  foggy  night  hideous  with  flaring  light, 
Boscawen's  men  turned  their  attention  to  the  "Bien- 
faisant."  This  vessel  was  afloat  and  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  her  bold  assailants.  The  English  towed  their 

1  Journal  of  Cbevalicr  de  Johnstone. 


LOUISBURG  87 

prize  safely  from  her  moorings  to  the  northeast  arm 
of  the  harbor,  in  spite  of  a  concentrated  fire  directed 
upon  them  from  all  the  available  cannon  and  mus 
ketry  of  the  enemy.  It  was  a  gallant  action  and 
cost  the  performers  but  seven  men  killed  and  nine 
wounded.1 

The  loss  of  the  ships  was  the  final  blow  to  the  spirit 
of  resistance,  for  the  water-front,  protected  by  a  mere 
wall,  was  now  open  to  escalade  or  to  a  cannonade,  if 
Boscawen  saw  fit  to  enter  the  harbor.  The  Admiral 
had  precisely  that  operation  in  mind,  but  upon  going 
on  shore  to  tell  Amherst  of  his  intentions,  he  found  the 
general  reading  a  letter  from  the  governor  of  Louisburg. 
At  ten  o'clock  that  July  morning  a  white  flag  had 
appeared  over  the  breach  in  one  of  the  bastions,  and 
an  officer  came  to  the  British  camp  with  an  offer  to 
capitulate.  Drucour  demanded  the  same  terms  which 
the  valiant  Blakeney  had  received  at  Minorca  two 
years  before.  This  meant  freedom  and  all  the  hon 
ors  of  war  for  the  garrison.  Amherst's  reply  was 
short  and  to  the  point.  The  French  troops  must 
surrender  as  prisoners  of  war  within  an  hour;  other 
wise  the  place  would  be  attacked  by  land  and  sea. 
Another  officer  emerged  from  the  ruined  town  and 
pleaded  for  more  lenient  terms,  but  Amherst  and 
Boscawen  would  not  talk  with  him.  To  the  gover 
nor  they  sent  a  repetition  of  their  demands  and 
requested  a  reply  within  thirty  minutes.  Drucour's 
second  answer  was  a  flat  refusal;  but  the  bearer  of 
the  note  had  scarcely  got  beyond  the  fortifications, 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  308. 


88  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

when  a  third  messenger  overtook  him  and  called  him 
back.  One  of  the  civil  authorities  of  Louisburg, 
upon  hearing  of  the  governor's  reply,  had  protested 
that  such  an  attitude  was  eminently  proper  from  a 
military  point  of  view,  but  that  Drucour  could  not 
have  taken  into  consideration  the  sufferings  of  the 
four  thousand  inhabitants,  and  of  the  ten  or  twelve 
hundred  sick  in  the  hospitals,  which  further  resis 
tance  must  entail.  This  argument  appealed  to  the  gu 
bernatorial  mind,  and  in  place  of  the  note  of  refusal 
Drucour  sent  out  three  officers  with  instructions  to 
accept  the  terms  imposed  by  Amherst.  One  of  these 
bearers  of  good  tidings,  afraid  that  the  patience  of 
the  English  would  be  exhausted  before  he  reached 
their  camp,  ran  out  of  the  town,  waving  his  arms 
about,  and  bawled  out  from  afar,  "We  accept!  We 
accept!" 

At  eleven  o'clock  that  night  the  negotiators  re 
turned  to  Louisburg  with  the  articles  of  capitulation, 
accompanied  by  a  note  from  Amherst  and  Bos- 
cawen  assuring  their  defeated  opponent  that  they  had 
no  intention  of  distressing  the  unfortunate  inhabi 
tants  of  the  town,  but  would  do  all  in  their  power  to 
aid  them.  The  terms  of  surrender  were  as  follows: 
the  garrison  should  be  sent  to  England  in  English 
ships,  as  prisoners  of  war;  all  artillery,  arms,  ammu 
nition,  and  provisions  in  Louisburg  and  the  islands 
of  Cape  Breton  and  St.  John  (now  Prince  Edward 
Island)  should  be  given  up  intact;  the  gate  called 
the  Porte  Dauphine  should  be  surrendered  to  the 
British  troops  the  next  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  and 


LOUISBURG  89 

the  garrison  should  lay  down  their  colors  and  arms 
on  the  esplanade  at  noon.1  One  cannot  help  wonder 
ing  whether  Amherst,  as  he  put  down  his  pen,  re 
called  that  just  one  year  ago  that  day  the  forces  under 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland  went  down  to  defeat  before 
the  French  at  the  battle  of  Hastenbeck. 

The  French  governor  signed  the  capitulation  at 
midnight.  Before  noon  of  the  twenty-seventh  three 
companies  of  grenadiers  marched  through  the  west 
gate  of  the  town.  Soon  the  Union  jack  was  float 
ing  over  the  citadel  and  the  vanquished  garrison, 
drawn  up  on  parade,  laid  down  their  arms.  Over 
fifty-five  hundred  officers,  soldiers,  and  sailors  were 
taken  prisoners  of  war,  while  the  amount  of  artillery, 
arms,  ammunition,  and  stores  which  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  victors  is  astonishing.  All  that  after 
noon  a  long  line  of  wagons  streamed  in  and  out  of 
Louisburg,  hauling  away  the  guns  and  stores,  over 
which  sentries  kept  guard  to  see  that  nothing  was 
carried  elsewhere  than  to  the  King's  depot.  There 
were  eighteen  mortars  and  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  cannon,  besides  seventy-five  hundred  muskets 
with  eighty  thousand  cartridges. 

Louisburg  had  fallen  and  with  it  the  islands  of 
Cape  Breton  and  St.  John.  The  key  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  had  been  wrested  from  the  enemy,  and 
the  conqueror  hastened  to  send  the  glad  news  to 
England.  As  bearer  of  the  tidings  he  selected  his 
younger  brother,  William,  who  had  been  with  the 
army  as  Amherst's  aide-de-camp,  while  Boscawen 

1  Beatson's  Memoirs,  iii,  178. 


90  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

appointed  one  Captain  Edgecomb  to  represent  the 
navy  in  this  happy  mission.  The  elements  which 
had  conspired  to  delay  the  expedition  coming  out 
from  England  now  did  their  best  to  speed  the  good 
word  across  the  water.  Captain  Amherst  and  his 
naval  companion  sailed  on  the  evening  of  July  30; 1 
in  less  than  three  weeks  they  set  England  on  fire 
with  the  joyful  tidings.2  Congratulations  poured  in 
from  all  sides.  Lady  Yarmouth  effusively  hoped 
that  the  victory  would  bring  about  a  glorious  peace. 
Horace  Walpole  shared  her  sentiments.3  The  Arch 
bishop  offered  thanksgiving,  while  the  more  worldly 
Chesterfield  declared  that  the  country  had  been 
greatly  in  want  of  a  cordial  and  here  was  one.4  Lord 
Temple,  Pitt's  brother-in-law,  was  intoxicated  with 
joy.  In  writing  his  "hundred  thousand  million  of 
congratulations"  to  the  War  Minister  "upon  this 
great  and  glorious  event,"  Temple  addressed  him 
"my  dear  brother  Louisburg."5  To  understand  the 
storm  of  enthusiasm  which  swept  over  England,  one 
must  realize  that  Amherst's  feat  was  the  first  victory 
in  a  war  that  had  been  dragging  on  for  two  dis 
couraging  years. 

George  II,  like  his  subjects,  was  carried  away  by 
the  joyous  news.  He  insisted  upon  giving  each  of 
the  messengers  a  present  of  £500,  and  a  further  sum 
to  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  a  sword  and  a 
ring.6  It  was  not  long  before  William  Amherst,  who 

1  Montresor's  Journals,  p.  173.  2  Grenville  Papers,  i,  258. 

8  Horace  Walpole  to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  Aug.  24,  1758. 
4  Torrens'  History  of  Cabinets,  ii,  471.  6  Von  Ruville's  Pitt,  ii,  214. 

6  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  xxviii,  448  (Sept.,  1758). 


LOUISBURG  91 

was  only  twenty-six  years  old,  was  still  further  re 
warded  by  being  made  deputy  quarter-master-general 
of  the  forces  in  North  America  with  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel.1 

The  arrival  of  the  French  colors  taken  at  Louis- 
burg  occasioned  a  great  demonstration  in  the  metrop 
olis.  First  the  trophies  were  carried  to  the  palace 
at  Kensington,  whereupon  the  King  ordered  that 
they  should  be  deposited  in  St.  Paul's,  which  was 
done  with  great  pomp  and  circumstance.  A  gor 
geous  procession  of  cavalry  and  foot  escorted  the 
eleven  standards  from  Hyde  Park  to  the  west  gate 
of  the  cathedral  amidst  the  blare  of  trumpets  and 
the  roar  of  kettle-drums.  While  the  guns  at  the 
Tower  and  in  St.  James's  Park  boomed  over  London, 
the  dean  and  chapter,  attended  by  the  choir,  re 
ceived  the  Gallic  emblems  and  hung  them  in  a  con 
spicuous  place  as  a  lasting  memorial  to  the  success 
of  his  Majesty's  arms  in  the  reduction  of  Louisburg.2 

The  celebration  of  Amherst's  victory  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  the  Old  World.  To  the  Ameri 
can  colonists,  and  to  the  men  of  New  England  in 
particular,  the  stronghold  on  Cape  Breton  Island 
had  been  doubly  the  Dunkirk  of  America,  for  the 
place  was  famous  as  a  resort  of  privateers,3  Jean 
Bart  and  his  followers  never  worried  the  English 
seamen  of  the  Channel  more  than  the  marauders  of 
Louisburg  troubled  our  sea-going  ancestors.  When 

1  Ibid.,  xxviii,  504  (Odl.,  1758). 

2  London  Magazine,  Vol.  xxvii,  p.  480  (Oft.,  1758). 

3  Parkman's  Half-Century  of  Confiift,  i,  188. 


92  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  good  news  arrived  from  the  eastward,  sermons 
of  thanksgiving  were  preached  in  almost  every  New 
England  meeting-house,  while  the  seaport  towns  were 
still  more  demonstrative.  The  jubilant  Bostonians 
piled  a  great  bonfire  on  the  top  of  Fort  Hill  and  let 
its  light  shine  out  over  harbor  and  country-side  to 
the  glory  of  Amherst  and  his  brave  soldiers.  New 
port  indulged  in  fire-works  and  a  general  illumina 
tion.  The  ringing  of  bells  and  the  discharge  of  guns 
expressed  Philadelphia's  joy,  while  New  York  cele 
brated  the  occasion  with  a  grand  official  dinner,  where 
each  toast  was  announced  to  the  town  by  the  can 
non  at  Fort  George.1  By  the  end  of  August  the  good 
news  had  penetrated  to  the  British  camp  at  Lake 
George  where  timid  Abercromby  had  settled  down 
after  one  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Montcalm.  The 
dispirited  army  rose  to  the  occasion  with  enthusiasm, 
and  fired  three  rounds  of  artillery  and  small  arms  for 
the  taking  of  Louisburg. 

Nor  did  the  rejoicing  cease  with  bonfires  and  pyro 
technics,  salutes  and  banquets.  Some  individuals 
more  venturesome  than  the  rest  attempted  to  give 
vent  to  their  exultation  in  verse.  The  results,  as 
usual  in  such  cases,  were  hardly  subjects  for  con 
gratulation,  but  one  rhyme  is  perhaps  less  pitiful 
than  the  rest.  This2  was  written  on  board  the  "Ox 
ford,"  in  Louisburg  Harbor  soon  after  the  surrender. 
Its  author,  Valentine  Nevill,  is  otherwise  unknown 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  80. 

1  Nevill's  The  Reduttion  of  Louisburg.  There  is  a  copy  of  this  "  poem"  in 
the  John  Carter  Brown  Library  at  Providence. 


LOUISBURG  93 

to  fame,  but  his  characterization  and  appreciation  of 
Amherst  may  appropriately  close  this  chapter  of  the 
General's  career: 

"Calm  and  composed  amid  the  hostile  Scene, 

Judicious,  steady,  template,  and  serene, 

Prudently  bold,  considerate  and  good, 

Resolvd,  and  yet  not  prodigal  of  Blood, 

Thy  Virtues,  Amherst,  cannot  be  unsung, 

While  Virtue's  Praise  employs  the  Poet's  tongue" 


CHAPTER  VI 

BETWEEN  TWO   CAMPAIGNS 

ACCORDING  to  Pitt's  plan  for  the  campaign 
of  1758  the  capture  of  Louisburg  was  to  be 
but  the  prelude  to  an  attack  upon  Quebec 
itself.  If  the  season  were  too  far  gone  after  the 
first  stronghold  fell,  the  commanders  were  to  turn 
their  hands  to  the  destruction  of  the  French  settle 
ments  along  the  Canadian  coast  and  in  southern 
Louisiana.1  The  Louisburg  expedition  arrived  at  the 
Island  of  Cape  Breton  seven  weeks  after  schedule 
time;  the  siege  consumed  seven  weeks;  yet  Amherst 
concluded  his  letter  to  Pitt,  announcing  his  victory, 
with  this  sentence:  "If  I  can  go  to  Quebec,  I  will."2 
Four  days  later  news  arrived,  so  disturbing  in  its 
character  that  it  was  one  of  the  strongest  factors  in 
the  determination  of  plans  for  the  rest  of  the  sum 
mer.  The  unwelcome  report  came  from  Lake  George, 
where  a  British  army  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
men  had  gone  down  to  defeat  before  Montcalm. 

The  irruption  into  Canada  by  the  way  of  the  lakes 
of  northern  New  York  was  assigned  to  General 
Abercromby,  the  commander-in-chief  of  his  Majesty's 
forces  in  North  America.  In  July  there  were  six 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  i,  307. 

2  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  307. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS        95 

thousand  regulars  and  about  nine  thousand  provin 
cials  under  his  orders  at  the  southern  end  of  Lake 
George.  Although  nominally  the  commander,  Aber- 
cromby  lacked  the  qualities  of  a  leader,  and  Pitt, 
knowing  this  to  be  the  case,  appointed  Brigadier 
Lord  Howe  to  be  second  in  command.  The  latter 
was  beloved  by  every  man  in  the  army  and  was  one 
of  the  few  British  officers  to  win  the  good-will  of 
the  colonial  soldiers.  An  engaging  personality  was 
not  his  only  remarkable  quality.  The  young  noble 
man,  who  was  in  his  thirty-fourth  year,  possessed  an 
exceptional  amount  of  good  sense,  and  was  ever 
ready  to  break  through  the  traditions  of  the  service 
when  wilderness  conditions  required  tactics  differing 
from  those  employed  in  European  warfare.  His 
men  were  equipped  for  efficiency  rather  than  for 
show.  They  cut  their  hair  close,  and  the  tails  of 
their  gorgeous  coats  were  amputated  at  the  waist. 
Wolfe  startles  one  with  the  statement  that  his  Lord 
ship  "has  taken  away  all  the  men's  breeches,"1 
without  explaining  that  he  substituted  leggings  to 
protect  their  limbs  from  the  briery  undergrowth  of 
the  forest.  The  musket-barrels  were  browned  to 
render  them  inconspicuous,  and  every  man  carried 
in  his  knapsack  thirty  pounds  of  meal,  which  made 
him  independent  of  supply-trains  for  a  month.  Be 
fore  such  numbers  and  such  an  efficiently  equipped 
force,  the  French  might  well  tremble  for  their  posts, 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  at  the  head  of  Lake 

1  Royal  Commission  on  Historical  Manuscripts'  Ninth  Report,  Appendix 
iii,  p.  756. 


96  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Champlain.  In  fact  they  did.  Montcalm  had  only 
about  thirty-five  hundred  men  to  pit  against  the  in 
vading  host,  but  good  luck,  supplemented  by  admi 
rable  skill,  triumphed  over  the  disparity  in  numbers. 

Early  in  July  Abercromby  embarked  his  forces 
upon  Lake  George  and  started  on  his  way  to  attempt 
the  capture  of  Ticonderoga.  Landing  at  the  north 
ern  end  of  the  lake,  where  its  spectacular  shores 
converge  until  there  is  scarcely  room  for  the  rushing 
outlet  which  dances  on  its  way  to  the  water  of 
Champlain,  the  army  started  through  the  forest 
primeval.  The  growth  was  dense  from  the  first, 
and  before  long  became  almost  impenetrable;  but 
the  troops  struggled  on  until  even  the  guides  were 
at  a  loss  where  to  turn.  One  or  two  provincial 
regiments  preceded  the  main  parts  of  the  army, 
and  in  their  progress  through  the  leafy  wilderness 
must  have  got  too  far  in  advance  before  they  real 
ized  it.  The  principal  column  was  headed  by  Lord 
Howe  with  Major  Israel  Putnam  and  two  hundred 
rangers.  Bending  aside  saplings  and  climbing  over 
fallen  giants  of  the  forest,  the  soldiers  tramped 
towards  the  French  fort  at  Ticonderoga.  Suddenly 
in  a  dense  thicket  they  heard  a  challenge:  Qui  vive! 
The  cry  was  a  desperate  one,  for  it  came  from  a  party 
of  three  hundred  and  fifty  Frenchmen  who  were 
caught  between  the  advanced  guard  and  the  main 
body  of  the  British  army.  The  enemy  fired  from 
the  underbrush.  Putnam  and  the  rangers  recipro 
cated  in  kind.  A  brisk  skirmish  ensued,  —  and 
Lord  Howe  fell  dead  with  a  bullet  in  his  breast. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS        97 

The  fighting  continued  until  the  small  band  of  the 
enemy  was  destroyed  almost  to  a  man,  but  the 
outcome  of  the  campaign  had  been  practically  deter 
mined  when  the  brave  and  noble  Howe  dropped  on 
the  soft  ground  of  the  virgin  forest.  Upon  his  fol 
lowers  the  effect  of  his  death  was  immeasurable. 
Well  might  Abercromby  have  said,  "0  what  a  fall 
was  there,  my  countrymen!  Then  I,  and  you,  and 
all  of  us  fell  down,"  for  with  the  death  of  Howe  the 
soul  of  the  army  expired.  The  hero's  body  was 
carried  back  to  Albany,1  where  it  rests  under  the  ves 
tibule  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  although  the  visitor  to 
Ticonderoga  is  usually  led  to  believe  that  the  noble 
man's  ashes  are  there. 

Although  the  destructive  party  of  Frenchmen  were 
effectually  disposed  of,  Abercromby  shared  the  con 
sternation  of  his  troops  and  hastened  to  leave  the 
spot  where  his  gallant  second  had  fallen.  Retracing 
its  steps,  the  dispirited  army  again  came  in  sight  of 
the  shimmering  surface  of  Lake  George.  In  the 
meantime  Montcalm  had  retreated  to  Ticonderoga 
and  awaited  the  approach  of  the  British.  About  a 
half-mile  from  the  enemy's  forts  an  elevated  ridge 
offered  great  natural  advantages  to  the  French  posi 
tion  if  the  commander  saw  fit  to  avail  himself  of 
them.  Montcalm  was  ever  awake  to  his  opportun 
ities  and  at  the  eleventh  hour  his  men  constructed 
along  this  axis  a  staunch  wall  of  timber  felled  upon 
the  spot.  The  logs  were  piled  upon  each  other  to  a 
height  of  eight  or  nine  feet,  forming  a  complete  shelter 

1  Boston  Gazette,  July  17,  1758. 


98  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

for  the  French  soldiers.  This  protection  was  still  fur 
ther  secured  by  a  most  ingenious  abattis.  The 
ground  in  front  of  the  crude  breastwork  sloped  away, 
and  over  that  area,  to  the  distance  of  a  musket-shot, 
the  enemy  cut  down  trees  in  such  manner  that  they 
lay  with  their  tops  towards  the  British,  offering  many 
a  sharpened  branch  upon  which  a  valiant  soldier 
might  be  torn  or  impaled.  As  one  Massachusetts 
officer  said,  it  looked  like  a  forest  uprooted  by  a 
hurricane.1  Montcalm  had  now  done  all  he  could, 
and  he  awaited  developments  in  no  easy  frame  of 
mind.  If  attacked  in  front  he  might  hold  his  posi 
tion,  otherwise  the  danger  would  be  extreme. 

On  the  eighth  of  July  Abercromby  took  his  engi 
neer's  advice  and  attempted  a  front  attack  upon  the 
cruel  works  of  the  enemy.  This  step  was  very  Un 
wise,  the  more  so  because  it  was  undertaken  without 
waiting  for  the  artillery  to  come  up.  The  result  was 
a  disaster  second  only  to  that  in  which  Braddock 
had  met  his  death  just  three  years  before.  Whoever 
knows  the  joys  of  tramping  across  newly  tim 
bered  land  may  appreciate  to  some  extent  the  diffi 
culty  of  advancing  upon  the  enemy's  works  through 
an  artificial  barrier  of  felled  trees.  The  English 
soldiers  were  ordered  to  carry  the  lines  with  the 
bayonet.  They  struggled  across  the  abattis,  now  fall 
ing  helpless,  caught  between  the  interlacing  branches, 
now  stumbling  over  logs,  only  to  be  swept  at  last  by  a 
killing  fire  of  grape-shot  and  musket-balls.  The 
ranks  were  broken,  but  more  by  the  obstructions 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfey  ii,  105. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS        99 

which  impeded  their  progress  than  by  the  fire  of  the 
French  soldiers.  The  valor  and  impetuosity  of  the 
regulars  and  provincials,  battling  against  an  enemy 
whom  they  could  neither  reach  nor  see,  were  tragic. 
Within  a  few  feet  of  the  wooden  wall  they  were  con 
fronted  with  a  more  elaborate  and  deadly  array  of 
sharpened  branches  than  that  which  they  had  suc 
ceeded  in  traversing.  The  French  played  upon  them 
with  a  cross-fire  here,  and  many  a  brave  soldier, 
falling,  was  transfixed  upon  the  jagged  limbs. 

Again  and  again  the  attack  was  renewed  that  hot 
July  afternoon,  but  all  in  vain.  Once  a  gallant 
Scotch  captain  tore  his  way  through  the  abattis  and 
with  a  few  of  his  men  climbed  the  breastwork,  only 
to  be  bayonetted  by  the  enemy.  Until  sunset  the 
fighting  continued,  but  the  last  hour  and  a  half  of 
battle  was  merely  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  pro 
vincials  to  cover  the  disorderly  retreat  of  the  regulars 
and  to  protect  their  comrades  who  were  collecting 
and  removing  the  wounded.  The  dead  were  left 
where  they  had  fallen,  and  the  British  forces  hur 
riedly  retreated  to  the  head  of  Lake  George.  In 
the  profitless  slaughter  the  English  had  lost  almost 
two  thousand  officers  and  men,  while  Montcalm's 
well-protected  defenders  of  Ticonderoga  were  lessened 
by  only  about  three  hundred  and  twenty-five.  This 
was  the  disheartening  story  which  Abercromby  re 
lated  in  his  despatches  to  Amherst. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  the  bad  news  Amherst  went 
immediately  to  Boscawen  and  discussed  the  situation. 
Should  reinforcements  be  sent  to  Lake  George  at 


ioo  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

once?  The  Admiral  did  not  see  how  that  could  be 
done  until  the  prisoners  who  had  been  taken  at 
Louisburg  were  actually  on  shipboard,  and  on  their 
way  to  England.  The  embarkation  consumed  a 
great  deal  of  time  because  of  frequent  spells  of  foggy 
weather,  but  at  last,  on  the  fourteenth  of  August, 
the  five  thousand  Frenchmen  were  all  crowded  into 
five  men-of-war  and  ten  transports.1  Next  morning 
the  squadron  of  prison-ships,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Rodney,  crept  out  of  the  harbor  and  started 
on  its  four  weeks'  voyage.  In  the  meantime  Wolfe 
had  grown  restless.  Daily  he  besieged  his  chief  with 
questions  about  the  next  operations.  It  was  clear 
that  he  keenly  desired  to  start  at  once  for  Quebec 
and  had  no  doubt  that  such  an  attack  would  be 
successful.2  Amherst  also  wished  to  enter  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  make  an  attempt  upon  the  capital  of 
New  France,  but  Boscawen  was  less  enthusiastic 
about  the  project.  The  fleet  wanted  provisions,  and 
the  ships  had  suffered  so  much  damage  from  the 
waves  in  Gabarus  Bay  that  he  considered  an  expedi 
tion  up  the  river  impracticable.  Still  Amherst  hoped 
to  carry  out  the  original  plan.  Then  came  Aber- 
cromby's  letter.  The  Admiral  and  the  General  pon 
dered  the  question  for  almost  a  week,  and,  on  the 
sixth  of  August,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Quebec  enterprise  must  be  abandoned.3  When  Am 
herst  broke  this  news  to  Wolfe,  the  latter  showed  his 
disappointment  in  a  petulant  reply,  demanding  that 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  314.  2  Willson's  Wolff,  p.  385. 

3  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  313. 


BETWEEN   TWO 

reinforcements  be  sent  to  Abercromby  immediately. 
He  would  gladly  have  picked  up  four  or  five  battal 
ions  and  started  at  once  for  Boston  or  New  York, 
but  this  being  out  of  the  question  for  the  present, 
the  disgruntled  Brigadier  expended  his  energy  in 
complaining  that  "This  damned  French  garrison 
take  up  our  time  and  attention  which  might  be  better 
bestowed  upon  the  interesting  affairs  of  the  conti 


nent/1 


When  the  impracticability  of  attacking  Quebec  was 
certain,  Amherst  lost  no  time  in  putting  into  execu 
tion  his  alternative  instructions,  —  to  destroy  the 
French  settlements  along  the  Canadian  coast.  On 
the  very  next  day  Major  Dalling  was  dispatched  to 
Espagnolle,  now  Sydney,  C.  B.,  with  orders  to  bring 
away  all  the  French  inhabitants  able  to  carry  arms; 
and  ere  long  Colonel  Rollo  with  five  hundred  men 
departed  for  Prince  Edward  Island,  upon  an  equally 
grim  mission.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month  Am 
herst  ordered  another  detachment  under  Colonel 
Monckton  to  proceed  to  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  and  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John  River  "to  de 
stroy  the  vermin  who  are  settled  there/'  Finally  a 
fourth  expedition  was  organized  and  sent  against  the 
inhabitants  of  the  western  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence.  This  part  of  the  program  was  assigned 
to  Wolfe,  who  owned  that  he  would  be  pleased  "to 
see  the  Canadian  vermin  sacked  and  pillaged  and 
justly  repaid  their  unheard-of  cruelty."1  All  these 
operations,  although  seemingly  unnecessary  and  cruel, 

1  Willson's  Wolfe,  p.  389. 


LQ2  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

were  in  fad  entirely  justifiable,  for  Quebec  was  chiefly 
supplied  with  provisions  by  these  settlements.  Prince 
Edward  Island,  or  as  we  should  more  properly  call 
it,  lie  St.  Jean,  abounded  in  corn  and  cattle  and  had 
no  other  market  than  the  capital  of  New  France.1 
By  destroying  these  supplies  and  removing  the  in 
habitants  who  provided  them,  an  important  step 
towards  the  conquest  of  Quebec  would  be  accom 
plished.  England  had  experimented  with  French 
Canadian  "neutrals"  long  enough  to  know  that  such 
phenomena  could  never  exist;  and,  that  being  the 
case,  these  unfortunate  beings  must  be  removed 
from  the  field  of  military  operations. 

Lord  Rollo  found  the  governor  of  Prince  Edward 
Island  somewhat  reluctant  to  consider  himself  bound 
by  the  capitulation  of  Louisburg,  but  a  slight  display 
of  force  quickly  reduced  him  to  submission.  The 
British  captured  as  many  of  the  inhabitants  as  pos 
sible  and  sent  them  off  to  France.  Few  of  the 
wretched  exiles,  however,  were  destined  to  see  the 
shores  of  the  Old  World,  for  the  vessels  upon  which 
they  embarked  proved  unseaworthy,  and  hundreds 
of  men  and  women  were  shipwrecked  and  drowned 
on  the  voyage.2  If  Lord  Rollo  had  any  misgivings 
about  the  justice  of  this  deportation,  his  conscience 
was  relieved  by  the  discovery  of  several  of  his  country 
men's  scalps  adorning  the  interior  of  the  gubernato 
rial  residence.  These  ghastly  trophies  betokened  the 
zeal  of  parties  of  fugitive  Acadians  who  had  eked 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  350. 

1  Beatson's  Memoirs,  iii,  181;  Casgrain's  Une  Seconde  Acadie,  pp.  352-353- 


BETWEEN  TWO  CAMPAIGNS       103 

out  a  living  in  their  new  surroundings  by  scalping 
Englishmen  and  carrying  the  results  of  their  labors 
to  the  governor  for  a  bounty.  The  removal  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Prince  Edward  Island,  effected  at  this 
time,  accounts  for  the  comparative  absence  of  French 
Canadians  noticeable  in  that  region  to-day;  for  those 
who  escaped  the  clutches  of  the  British  fled  to  Que 
bec,  and  the  island  became  a  wilderness  once  more. 

The  other  ravaging  expeditions  were  equally  suc 
cessful,  although  the  conquerors  were  occasionally 
embarrassed  by  rinding  a  number  of  Germans  among 
their  captives.  These  people  had  wandered  from  a 
colony  founded  in  Acadia  by  the  English  five  or  ten 
years  before,  and  Amherst  decreed  that  they  should 
be  left  unmolested,  or  else  sent  back  to  Lunenburg 
in  Nova  Scotia.1 

Wolfe's  excursion  resulted  in  the  temporary  ruin 
of  the  enemy's  fisheries  on  the  west  shore  of  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence,  upon  which  the  Canadian  and 
French  troops  were  in  a  great  measure  dependent 
for  subsistence.  The  quiet  fisher-folk  were  not  ex 
pecting  the  descent  of  the  British  with  fire  and  sword 
and  consequently  there  was  no  opposition.  Gaspe, 
the  first  place  attacked,  was  easily  disposed  of.  The 
terrified  habitants  left  their  houses  and  rushed  to  the 
woods,  while  the  invaders  completely  destroyed  their 
settlement.  A  few  of  the  miserable  people  escaped 
to  Quebec,  some  were  captured  in  the  forest,  while 
others  were  gradually  driven  from  their  hiding-places 
by  starvation  and  gave  themselves  up.  At  every 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  312. 


104  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

wretched  hamlet  along  that  shore  the  same  desolat 
ing  operations  were  carried  on.  Houses  and  shallops, 
stages  and  nets,  magazines  and  stores  were  burned. 
All  the  schooners  and  dried  fish,  and  every  bit  of 
property,  combustible  or  not,  were  consigned  to  the 
flames  or  were  otherwise  destroyed.  Wolfe  hustled 
the  habitants  on  board  the  British  ships;  but  some 
of  those  who  commanded  minor  excursions  were  not 
so  careful,  and  the  ruined  Canadians  were  left  to 
face  the  approaching  winter  without  food  or  shelter. 
It  is  a  depressing  picture;  let  us  hope  that  Wolfe 
did  not  find  so  much  pleasure  in  the  deed  as  in  its 
anticipation.  These  depredations  occupied  his  rest 
less  spirit  throughout  September.  Then  returning  to 
Louisburg,  the  Brigadier  carried  out  his  intention  of 
leaving  America,  supposedly  forever,  and  sailed  for 
England  with  Boscawen  on  the  first  day  of  October. 
The  future  hero  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham  had 
acquitted  himself  well  in  the  conquest  of  Louisburg, 
and  Amherst  must  have  appreciated  how  much  he 
owed  to  the  valor  and  inspiring  leadership  of  his 
first  Brigadier;  but  on  the  other  hand  the  General's 
patience  and  good-nature  had  been  put  to  a  great 
test  by  this  mercurial  James  Wolfe.  Although  the 
two  men  were  never  to  meet  again,  it  may  be  worth 
our  while  to  study  the  personality  and  character  of 
each  as  displayed  in  the  recent  campaign.  Amherst, 
a  mature  soldier  of  forty-one  years,  was  methodical 
almost  to  excess.  Without  an  assuredly  sufficient 
number  of  men  and  a  well-established  base,  he  would 
never  make  the  slightest  move.  When  everything 


BETWEEN  TWO  CAMPAIGNS       105 

was  arranged  to  his  liking,  he  advanced,  and  never 
failed  in  carrying  his  plan  into  execution.  He  never 
hurried,  and  was  so  thorough  that  he  never  left 
dangling  any  loose  ends  of  which  the  enemy  might 
take  advantage.  Hence  his  operations  were  rarely 
spectacular,  and  never  designedly  so.  To  Amherst  a 
campaign  was  to  be  played  like  a  game  of  chess,  and 
he  never  failed  to  checkmate  his  opponent.  Noth 
ing  ruffled  him,  not  even  the  officious  suggestions  and 
petulant  outbursts  of  his  right-hand  man.  His  good 
nature  was  as  remarkable  as  his  deliberation. 

In  contrast  to  the  serene  General  we  have  almost 
his  antithesis  in  Wolfe.  Every  American  is  familiar 
with  that  strange  and  unmistakable  profile.  The 
tip  of  his  long  and  slightly  upturned  nose  was  the 
apex  of  a  triangle  formed  by  a  sloping  forehead  and 
a  receding  chin.  His  physique  was  no  more  prepos 
sessing:  his  body  was  slender,  his  shoulders  narrow, 
and  his  limbs  long  and  thin.  The  caricature  cul 
minated  in  his  red  hair  which  he  wore  tied  in  a  queue 
behind.  The  eye  and  the  mouth  alone  were  true 
indexes  to  his  character.  The  one  was  bright  and 
alert,  the  other  beautiful  and  resolute.  Although  a 
young  man  of  thirty-one,  Wolfe  was  almost  an  invalid, 
presumably  a  victim  of  tuberculosis  aggravated  by 
over-wrought  nerves;  but  as  a  soldier,  he  was  match 
less  for  spirit  or  enterprise.  No  undertaking  was  too 
dangerous,  no  fire  too  hot.  He  enjoyed  the  battle 
for  the  battle's  sake  and  never  considered  his  own 
safety.  What  he  could  not  endure  was  inaction. 
Yet  inadion  was  sometimes  imperative.  When  this 


io6  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

was  the  case,  Wolfe  became  restive,  then  critical, 
then  officious.  His  superior  found  him  invaluable 
when  a  position  was  to  be  seized  or  lines  were  to  be 
carried;  but  in  the  tedious,  yet  necessary,  interim 
he  was  a  thorn  in  the  flesh.  He  had  no  patience  for 
the  infinite  amount  of  detail  which,  if  neglected, 
might  spell  ruin  for  a  campaign.  Wolfe  wanted  the 
dash,  the  charge,  and  the  escalade,  —  in  any  of  which 
he  was  undeniably  brilliant.  Before  Louisburg  we 
have  watched  him  leap  into  the  breakers  on  the  day 
of  the  landing,  we  have  heard  his  guns  from  Light 
house  Point  shattering  the  Island  Battery,  and  when 
the  French  attempted  a  sortie  it  was  Wolfe  who 
hurled  them  back  into  the  town  and  incidentally 
gained  an  advanced  position.  But  when  not  occu 
pied  with  such  enterprises  the  Brigadier's  restless 
spirit  relieved  itself  in  criticism  of  his  contemporaries, 
superiors  as  well  as  equals,  and  he  never  doubted  the 
infallibility  of  his  own  opinion. 

While  the  Louisburg  expedition  was  waiting  for  a 
favorable  wind  to  carry  it  out  of  the  harbor  of  Hali 
fax,  Wolfe  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  to  Lord  George 
Sackville  in  a  characteristic  letter,  beginning,  "The 
latter  end  of  May  and  the  fleet  not  sailed!  What 
are  they  about?  Why  are  they  not  landed  at  Louis 
burg  ?"  He  was  sure  that  the  enterprise  would 
"cost  a  multitude  of  men,"  and  lamented  the  sickly 
state  of  many  of  the  regiments.1  As  a  matter  of 
facl,  the  British  losses  before  the  island  stronghold 
were  only  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  killed  and 

i  Willson's  Wolff,  p.  368. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       107 

about  three  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  out  of  an 
army  of  more  than  eleven  thousand  men.  All  went 
well  until  the  siege  was  over.  Then  Wolfe  broke 
out  again.  He  seemed  to  consider  Amherst  incapa 
ble  of  dealing  with  the  situation,  and  by  writing  to 
the  General's  brother  he  tried  to  make  William  the 
vehicle  of  his  suggestions  as  to  the  proper  conduct 
of  affairs.  Then  in  letters  to  Sackville  and  to  his 
father  he  indulged  in  personalities:  his  brother- 
brigadier,  Whitmore,  he  called  "a  poor,  old,  sleepy 
man";  Abercromby,  "a  heavy  man";  and  Brigadier 
Provost,  "the  most  detestable  dog  upon  earth."1 
Amherst  seems  to  have  been  singularly  immune  from 
the  shrill  chirp  of  the  critic,  but  Wolfe  pestered  him 
daily  by  urging  an  attack  upon  Quebec. 

Particularly  unfortunate  were  the  Brigadier's  re 
marks  about  the  provincial  soldiers.  When  Wolfe 
heard  of  Abercromby's  defeat,  he  wrote  to  Amherst 
declaring  that  reinforcements  should  be  sent  at  once 
to  the  camp  at  Lake  George.  "We  all  know  how 
little  the  Americans  are  to  be  trusted;  by  this  time, 
perhaps,  our  troops  are  left  to  defend  themselves 
after  losing  the  best  of  our  officers."2  Poor  Wolfe! 
He  little  knew  that  in  the  very  engagement  to  which 
he  referred,  it  was  those  despised  Americans  who 
kept  up  a  lingering  fight  until  sunset,  in  order  to 
protect  the  flight  of  the  panic-stricken  regulars,  — 
a  flight  so  precipitate  that  forest  and  swamp  were 
strewn  with  the  arms,  accoutrements,  and  even  the 
shoes  of  the  vanquished.  In  another  letter  his  prej- 

1  Ibid.,  pp.  390  and  393.  2  Ibid.,  p.  394. 


io8  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

udiced  pen  did  him  even  less  credit:  "I  am  afraid 
that  by  this  time  Mr.  Abercromby  is  left  to  defend 
himself  with  the  remains  of  his  regular  troops.  The 
Americans  are  in  general  the  dirtiest,  most  contemp 
tible  cowardly  dogs  that  you  can  conceive.  There 
is  no  depending  on  them  in  action.  They  fall  down 
dead  in  their  own  dirt  and  desert  by  battalions,  offi 
cers  and  all.  Such  rascals  as  those  are  rather  an 
encumbrance  than  any  real  strength  to  any  army." 
These  sentiments  were  probably  due  to  the  author's 
failure  to  comprehend  the  frontier  method  of  fight 
ing,  which  taught  every  man  to  avail  himself  of  the 
nearest  protection,  rather  than  to  march  towards 
the  enemy  in  the  pasteboard  soldier  fashion  of  the 
Europeans.  Be  that  as  it  may,  one  cannot  help 
regretting  that  the  scornful  Wolfe  did  not  live  to  eat 
his  words  on  the  slope  of  Bunker  Hill,  or  on  the 
rocky  sides  of  King's  Mountain.  But  enough  of 
the  man's  limitations.  They  were  quite  offset  by 
his  valor  and  his  filial  devotion;  and  long  may 
James  Wolfe  stir  the  hearts  of  those  who  live  in  the 
land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 

Towards  the  end  of  August  Amherst  saw  his  way 
to  leave  Louisburg  and  go  to  Abercromby's  aid  with 
reinforcements.  The  siege-trenches  had  been  levelled, 
the  battered  walls  patched  up,  and  the  Island  Bat 
tery  put  in  commission.  The  town  resounded  with 
the  noisy  hammers  of  the  Yankee  carpenters,  who 
bent  their  restored  energies  to  shingling  houses  and 
building  barracks.  The  prisoners  were  on  their  way 
to  England,  and  at  last  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       109 

to  keep  the  conqueror  of  Louisburg  at  the  scene  of 
his  victory.  Abercromby  had  expressed  a  particular 
need  of  artillery  officers  and  men  along  with  what 
ever  troops  could  be  spared  from  the  forces  in  the 
northeast,  and  Amherst  responded  by  ordering  five 
regiments  to  embark  for  Boston,  while  he  himself 
went  on  board  his  brother's  ship,  the  "Captain," 
which  Boscawen  had  assigned  to  convoy  the  trans 
ports  to  Massachusetts  Bay.  With  a  fair  wind,  on 
August  30,  the  little  fleet  sailed  out  of  the  har 
bor. 

Amherst's  voyages  were  no  more  expeditious  than 
his  campaigns.  Almost  two  weeks  passed  before  he 
came  in  sight  of  the  wooded  hills  of  Cape  Ann.  But 
worse  trouble  awaited  him  in  Boston.  The  inhabi 
tants  of  that  Puritan  town  were  still  enthusiastic 
about  the  fall  of  Louisburg  and  intended  to  show  their 
appreciation  to  the  men  who  brought  that  glorious 
event  to  pass.  The  regiments  encamped  on  the 
Common,  and  if  the  sacred  Frog  Pond  itself  had  been 
filled  with  New  England's  traditional  stimulant  the 
feted  soldiers  could  not  have  celebrated  more  unre 
servedly.  For  September  fourteenth  the  General 
recorded  that  "it  was  impossible  to  hinder  the  People 
giving  the  Soldiers  rum  in  much  too  great  quanti 
ties."  The  next  day's  entry  was  veiled,  but  senten 
tious:  "I  halted  to  settle  everything  for  the  March." 
When  once  more  on  his  journey  Amherst  found 
thirteen  men  missing  as  the  consequence  of  Boston 
hospitality,  but  confidently  wrote,  "I  believe  I  have 
quite  got  the  better  of  the  Rum,  and  that  we  shall 


i  io  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

have  no  more  bad  effects  from  that."1  The  words 
were  truly  spoken,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
campaign. 

Thomas  Pownall,  the  energetic  and  business-like 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  had  provided  ox-carts, 
camp  necessaries  and  other  supplies,  and  everything 
was  in  readiness  to  expedite  the  departure  of  the 
troops  for  the  west.  From  Boston  to  Albany  is  about 
two  hundred  miles,  a  distance  which  Amherst  and  his 
men  covered  in  nineteen  days.  When  one  considers 
that  a  part  of  the  march  was  made  through  what  the 
General  termed  "the  greenwood''  the  time  seems 
quite  creditable.  Leaving  appreciative  Boston  on 
September  16,  the  soldiers  spent  their  first  night  on 
the  banks  of  the  Charles,  at  Watertown.  Thence 
their  route  was  through  the  happy  autumn  fields  of 
Weston,  Sudbury,  and  Marlborough.  At  Worcester, 
Amherst  encamped  his  four  thousand  men  on  a  hill 
behind  the  court-house  and  halted  a  day.  The 
General  found  quarters  for  himself  at  the  house  of 
Colonel  Chandler,  and  delighted  his  host  by  taking 
an  intelligent  interest  in  his  farm,  over  which  he 
rambled  to  his  heart's  content.  This  military  visita 
tion  added  much  to  the  usually  colorless  life  of  the 
inland  town.  The  officers  were  very  social,  spending 
their  evenings  and  taking  their  suppers  with  those 
of  the  inhabitants  who  aspired  to  be  society-folk. 
One  of  the  regiments,  composed  of  Scotch  High 
landers,  was  particularly  interesting  to  the  provincial 
inhabitants  who  had  never  before  beheld  such  an 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  352-353. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       in 

array  of  plaids  and  kilts,  nor  heard  the  shrilling  of 
bagpipes.  Among  the  spectators  of  the  martial 
transit  was  a  young  graduate  of  Harvard  College, 
who  was  studying  law  at  this  county-seat.  His 
name  was  John  Adams.  The  future  president  of  the 
United  States,  was  then,  as  ever,  introspective  and 
critical,  but  the  excellent  order  and  discipline  of  the 
troops  extorted  from  him  one  of  the  few  favorable 
comments  to  be  found  in  his  diary.1  It  was  fortunate 
that  the  puritanical  young  lawyer  saw  the  regulars 
at  Worcester  and  not  at  Boston. 

The  army  resumed  its  march  on  the  twenty-first 
and  in  three  days'  time  arrived  at  Springfield,  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Connecticut.  Amherst's  original 
plan  was  to  travel  only  through  the  settled  parts  of 
the  colony,  but  now  he  changed  his  mind  and  re 
solved  to  cut  his  way  to  Albany  straight  through  the 
southern  end  of  the  forest-clad  Berkshire  Hills. 
Crossing  the  river,  he  did  so;  but  he  relished  not  this 
marching  "through  the  greenwood,"  and  lest  the 
troops  be  surprised  by  the  Indians  or  the  French, 
they  were  ordered  to  sleep  on  their  arms.  Emerg 
ing  from  the  wilderness,  the  General  found  himself 
at  Sheffield,  in  the  Housatonic  Valley,  whence  he 
lost  no  time  in  making  his  way  to  Albany  in  advance 
of  the  army.  He  soon  got  into  communication  with 
Abercromby,  at  whose  request  he  hurried  forward  to 
the  shores  of  Lake  George,  leaving  instructions  for 
the  troops  to  halt  at  the  Dutch  town  until  further 
orders.2 

1  John  Adams'  Works,  ii,  33.       2  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  365. 


ii2  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

On  the  fifth  day  of  Odlober,  Jeffery  Amherst 
arrived  at  Abercromby's  headquarters.  The  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  immediately  held  a  council  of  war 
with  the  newcomer  and  Brigadier-General  Gage, 
upon  the  advisability  of  a  second  attack  upon  the 
formidable  French  post  at  Ticonderoga.  It  is  evi 
dent  that  the  point  was  already  settled  in  Aber 
cromby's  mind,  and  that  all  he  desired  was  the 
moral  support  of  Amherst's  corroboration.  He  dwelt 
at  length  upon  the  increased  strength  of  the  enemy's 
works,  upon  his  lack  of  artillery  and  engineers  and 
finally  upon  the  lateness  of  the  season.  Amherst 
acquiesced  entirely  in  his  superior's  views,  and  active 
operations  in  the  Lakes  were  postponed  until  the 
following  year.1  In  honor  of  the  conqueror  of  Louis- 
burg  the  whole  army  was  drawn  up  at  five  o'clock 
the  next  afternoon,  and  the  General  viewed  it  in  its 
splendid  setting  of  mountains,  gorgeous  with  autum 
nal  coloring,  reflected  in  the  peaceful  lake.  At  any 
season  of  the  year  Lake  George  compares  favorably 
with  the  beautiful  inland  waters  of  England,  but  in 
October  it  easily  eclipses  its  British  rivals,  for  the 
picturesque  shores  of  Windermere  or  Ullswater  in  all 
their  glory  are  never  arrayed  in  the  flaming  hues  of 
our  maples  and  oaks.  Although  there  is  no  expres 
sion  of  admiration  for  Nature  in  his  letters,  it  seems 
as  if  Amherst  must  have  been  moved  by  the  spectac 
ular  beauty  of  the  New  World. 

The  question  of  action  or  inaction  in  this  region 
being  settled  for  the  present,  Amherst  departed  for 
1  Ibid.,  i,  399. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       113 

New  York,  where  he  arrived  late  on  the  night  of 
Odober  12.  Thence  he  returned  to  Halifax,  his 
proper  headquarters  in  North  America,  but  on  his 
way  thither,  the  General  stopped  at  Boston  to  confer 
with  Governor  Pownall  about  winter  quarters  for 
any  overflow  of  troops  or  artillery  which  could  not 
properly  be  accommodated  in  Nova  Scotia.1  The 
Massachusetts  magistrate  keenly  desired  to  see  a 
permanent  garrison  of  regulars  stationed  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  capital,  provided  they  were  under  his 
command,  and  doubtless  fell  in  readily  with  Am- 
herst's  proposition.  The  historic  Castle,  now  Fort 
Independence,  where  Andros  was  imprisoned  at  the 
time  of  the  Glorious  Revolution  and  to  which  the 
British  troops  were  removed  after  the  Boston  Mas 
sacre  in  the  early  stages  of  a  more  glorious  revolu 
tion,  was  the  logical  abiding-place  for  any  military 
force  charged  with  the  defence  of  Boston.  The  fort 
crowns  a  small  island  in  the  harbor,  about  three 
miles  from  the  heart  of  the  town,  and  the  General 
and  Pownall  spent  part  of  one  crisp  October  day  in 
examining  the  post  and  in  discussing  its  proper  use.2 

*  Ibid.,  i,  365. 

9  Ibid,,  i,  385.  Apparently  Amherst  and  the  popular  governor  of  the 
Bay  Colony  were  on  the  best  of  terms  at  this  time.  Certainly  the  generous 
quota  of  provincial  troops  which  the  latter  invariably  persuaded  the  Assembly 
to  furnish  suggests  hearty  co-operation  between  the  two  men;  but  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  who  was  then  lieutenant-governor,  and  who  knew  both  of  them, 
gives  an  account  of  their  relations,  which,  unless  colored  by  his  dislike  for 
Pownall,  indicates  anything  but  good  will  between  Amherst  and  the  chief 
magistrate.  "There  had  been  an  allowance  of  4^  per  day  per  man,  (when 
the  Provincial  troops  were  out  on  active  service)  made  by  the  Assembly  for 
provisions.  He  (Governor  Pownall)  took  it  into  his  head  to  advise  some  of 
the  leading  members  of  the  House  to  reduce  it  to  yd,  and  desired  Mr.  Hutch- 


ii4  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Leaving  Boston  on  Odober  30,  Amherst  continued 
on  his  way  to  Nova  Scotia  and  landed  at  Halifax 
early  in  November.  A  few  days  later  an  express 
from  New  York  arrived,  bringing  two  missives  from 
William  Pitt.  These  were  the  first  letters  written 
after  the  news  of  Amherst's  vidlory  reached  England. 
One  contained  formal,  yet  enthusiastic,  expres 
sions  of  the  King's  approbation  and  the  Secretary's 
congratulations.  The  other  disclosed  two  commis 
sions,  appointing  Jeffery  Amherst  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  the  forces  employed  in  North  America.1 
Such  were  the  first  fruits  of  his  splendid  achievement 
on  the  rocky  coast  of  Cape  Breton.  Besides  the 
headship  of  the  army  the  appointment  carried  with 
it  the  command  of  the  6oth  regiment  as  a  sort  of 
appanage.  This  body  of  troops,  known  as  the 
Royal  Americans,  was  one  of  the  most  excellent  in 
the  service.  Organized  in  1756,  it  was  recruited 
largely  among  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  although 
its  officers  were  from  Europe.  Among  the  latter  Lord 
Howe  had  for  a  short  time  been  prominent  as  col- 

inson  to  promote  the  measure,  which  he  declined,  as  it  would  have  a  tendency 
to  make  a  breach  between  the  General  and  the  Province,  and  hurt  the  ser 
vice.  'Oh,  by ,'  says  he,  'if  I  could  not  raise  a  party  of  the  Civil, 

against  the  Military,  whether  it  was  Majority  or  Minority,  I  should  not  care 
a  farthing,  only  let  it  be  a  party!'  Whether  Gen.  Amherst  ever  heard  of 
this  or  not,  I  do  not  know;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  representations 
made  by  him  to  Ministry,  caused  the  recall  of  Gov.  Pownall.  To  let  him 
down  easily,  he  was  nominated  Governor  of  South  Carolina;  but  upon 
Gen.  Amherst  hearing  of  this  nomination,  he  said  to  Brigadier  Ruggles,  who 
was  then  in  the  army  under  the  General,  on  the  frontiers — 'Depend  upon 
it,  Mr.  Pownall  will  not  go  out  a  Governor  again  to  any  of  the  American 
Colonies.'  Another  Governor  was  soon  after  appointed  to  South  Carolina." 
P.  O.  Hutchinson's  Diary  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Hutcbinson,  i,  61. 
1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  430. 


BErWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       115 

onel-commandant,1  but  the  chief  authority  was  al 
ways  vested  in  the  supreme  military  officer  in  Brit 
ish  America,  a  distinction  of  which  the  regiment  was 
duly  proud.  The  new  appointment  changed  Am- 
herst's  plans  for  the  winter.  Leaving  the  troops  to 
hibernate  at  Halifax,  while  the  artillery  found  quar 
ters  at  Boston,  the  Commander-in-Chief  left  Nova 
Scotia  for  the  Massachusetts  capital,  and  travelled 
thence  to  New  York  where  he  arrived  sometime 
before  the  middle  of  December. 

At  New  York  Amherst  was  greeted  by  more  good 
news.  This  came  from  the  third  of  the  main  opera 
tions  planned  for  the  year,  the  attack  upon  Fort 
Duquesne.2  Brigadier-General  Forbes  commanded 
the  forces  assigned  for  this  undertaking,  and  he  was 
given  about  fifteen  hundred  regulars  and  five  thou 
sand  provincials  with  which  to  accomplish  the  task 
that  had  brought  death  and  disaster  to  Braddock. 
The  American  troops  were  drawn  from  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  those  of 
the  last-named  colony  being  commanded  by  Colonel 
George  Washington.  Forbes's  tactics  were  not  bril 
liant,  but  his  operations  do  him  credit,  for,  from 
beginning  to  end,  he  was  racked  with  a  painful  dis 
ease  which  would  have  destroyed  the  resolution,  as 
well  as  the  disposition,  of  many  a  seasoned  soldier. 
In  spite  of  his  intense  suffering,  however,  the  faithful 
Brigadier,  swung  in  a  litter  between  two  horses,  kept 
up  with  the  army  in  its  progress  through  the  moun- 

1  Maclachlan's  William  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland,  p.  352. 

2  KimbalPs  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  430. 


n6  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

tain  wilderness.  Very  slowly  the  expedition  crept 
westward.  It  was  November  before  the  British  were 
within  striking  distance  of  Fort  Duquesne  and  the 
tortured  leader,  discouraged  by  rains  and  snows,  was 
on  the  point  of  giving  up  the  business  for  that  season, 
when  he  received  authentic  reports  of  the  defenceless 
condition  of  the  French  post.  The  opportunity  was 
too  good  to  lose,  and  Forbes  pressed  forward  until 
on  November  25,  he  came  in  sight  of  the  famous 
stronghold.  But  the  birds  had  flown.  In  place  of 
an  imposing  fortress,  bristling  with  cannon,  the 
invaders  beheld  a  heap  of  ruins,  surrounded  by  the 
smouldering  remains  of  barracks  and  storehouses. 
In  despair  the  French  garrison  had  blown  up  the  fort 
on  the  previous  night,  and  were  now  hastening  up  the 
Alleghany  in  the  direction  of  Lake  Erie.  The  success 
of  the  British  was  complete.  Soon  the  vicinity  of 
Fort  Duquesne  was  dotted  with  soldiers'  huts  and 
traders'  cabins,  around  which  Forbes  erected  a  stock 
ade,  and  named  the  hamlet  Pittsburgh  in  honor  of 
his  great  chief,  to  whose  genius  so  much  of  his  own 
success  was  due. 

Thus  ended  the  campaign  of  1758.  France  had 
held  her  own  in  the  centre,  while  on  the  left,  at 
Louisburg,  and  on  the  right,  at  Fort  Duquesne,  she 
had  received  telling  blows.  The  tide  of  victory  had 
turned,  but  the  issue  of  the  imperial  clash  was  as  yet 
by  no  means  certain. 

Amherst  settled  down  for  the  winter  at  New  York 
and  the  English-speaking  world  resounded  with  his 
praise.  The  Commons  "resolved,  nemine  contradi- 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       117 

cente,  that  the  thanks  of  this  house  be  given  to 
Major-General  Amherst  for  the  services  he  has  done 
to  his  King  and  country;  and  that  Mr.  Speaker  do 
signify  the  same  to  him."1  Massachusetts  was  no 
less  appreciative.  When  a  precinct  of  one  of  her 
western  towns  petitioned  to  be  made  a  separate  en 
tity,  the  Great  and  General  Court  enadled  that  it 
"be  and  hereby  is  erected  into  a  separate  and  dis 
tinct  district  by  the  name  of  Amherst.2  The  choice 
of  an  appellation  for  the  new  district  rested  with 
Governor  Pownall;  for,  according  to  colonial  custom, 
when  a  bill  of  this  kind  was  passed  by  the  legisla 
ture,  a  space  was  left  for  the  name,  the  blank  being 
filled  in  by  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  province.3 
Thus  it  came  about  that  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
of  New  England  towns,  lying  among  the  hills  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley,  received  the  name  of  Amherst, 
a  name  which  it  was  to  share  with  an  institution  of 
learning  founded  there  in  the  early  years  of  the  next 
century.  New  Hampshire  was  not  far  behind  the 
Bay  Colony  in  honoring  the  hero  of  the  hour.  Less 
than  a  year  after  the  christening  of  Amherst,  Massa 
chusetts,  the  northern  province  followed  suit  and 
conferred  upon  the  township  of  Souhegan  West,  No. 
3,  the  more  euphonious  name  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.4  Before  many  months  had  passed  away  Vir 
ginia  divided  one  of  her  counties  into  three  parts 

1  'Journal  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

2  ACls  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts-Bay,  1758-59,  Chap. 

12. 

3  Carpenter  and  Morehouse's  History  of  Amherst,  Mass.,  p.  68. 

4  D.  F.  Secomb's  History  of  Amherst,  N.  H.,  p.  12. 


ii8  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

and  called  one  of  them  Amherst.1  From  these  three 
sources  the  name  has  sped  across  the  continent  until 
to-day  a  dozen  places  in  the  United  States  bear  the 
appellation  of  the  conqueror  of  Louisburg. 

The  monotony  of  the  winter  at  New  York  was 
broken  by  little  except  the  report  of  marauding 
Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Edward,  at  the  bend 
of  the  Hudson.  Much  to  Amherst's  disgust  "these 
scoundrels'*  got  away  unpunished,  and  the  General's 
only  satisfaction  lay  in  characterizing  as  "a  pack  of 
lazy,  rum-drinking  people,"  those  whom  he  gladly 
would  have  dispatched  with  his  sword.  The  Gen 
eral  was  distinctly  bored  with  the  scene  of  his  activi 
ties.  In  a  letter  to  Lord  George  Sackville  one  finds 
his  impressions  of  America.  It  is  evident  that  they 
were  deeply  tinged  with  homesickness,  for  in  speak 
ing  of  a  friend's  intended  return  to  England  Amherst 
expressed  his  sentiments  in  these  words:  'Tis  the 
place  that  everybody  here  thinks  of  going  to.  I  do 
not,  as  long  as  the  war  lasts;  when  that  is  over,  - 
which  I  promise  you  I  will  do  all  I  can  to  finish  in  a 
right  way,  —  I  will  then  rather  hold  a  plough  at 
Riverhead,  than  take  here  all  that  can  be  given  to 
me."2  The  home-loving  Englishman  was  obsessed 
with  fear  that  one  reward  for  the  victories  he  fully 
expected  to  achieve  might  be  the  office  of  Governor 
of  New  York,  which  he  "would  rather  not  be  obliged 
to  refuse."  With  this  in  view  he  begged  his  aristo 
cratic  friend  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  any 

1  Hening's  Statutes  of  Virginia,  I,  Geo.  Ill,  Ch.  xx. 

2  Stopford-Sackvillf  Manuscripts,  vol.  ii.  p.  268. 


BETWEEN   TWO  CAMPAIGNS       119 

such  calamity  from  taking  place.  That  his  fears 
were  not  groundless  we  shall  see,  for  in  the  ensuing 
year,  the  governorship  of  Virginia 1  was  given  to 
Jeffery  Amherst  as  a  long  deferred  reward  for  the 
conquest  of  Louisburg. 

1  Torrens'  History  of  Cabinets,  ii,  515. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TICONDEROGA 

HIS  Majesty  having  nothing  so  much  at  heart 
as  to  improve  the  great  and  important  ad 
vantages  gained  the  last  Campaign,  as  well 
as  to  repair  the  Disappointment  at  Ticonderoga,  and 
by  the  most  vigorous  and  decisive  Efforts,  to  estab 
lish,  by  the  Blessing  of  God  on  his  Arms,  His  Maj 
esty's  just  and  indubitable  Rights,  and  to  avert  all 
future  Dangers  to  His  Majesty's  Subjects  in  North 
America,  I  am  now  to  acquaint  you  that  the  King 
has  come  to  a  Resolution  to  allot  an  adequate  Pro 
portion  of  His  Forces  in  North  America  amounting 
to  12,005  men>  to  make  an  attack  upon  Quebec,  by 
the  River  St.  Lawrence  against  which  place  they  are 
to  proceed  from  Louisburg,  as  early  in  the  Year,  as 
on  or  about,  the  7th  of  May,  if  the  season  shall 
happen  to  permit,  under  the  direction  of  Brigadier 
Genl.  Wolfe,  whom  the  King  has  appointed  for  the 
Command  of  that  Operation,  and  who  will  have  the 
rank  of  Major  General,  for  that  Expedition  only."1 

This  lengthy  mandate,  which  Amherst  received  from 
William  Pitt  in  March,  1759,  practically  sealed  the  fate 
of  New  France.  When  Wolfe  returned  to  England  in 
the  autumn  of  1758,  with  the  hope  of  being  employed 

1  KimbalFs  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  432-433. 


TICONDEROGA  121 

in  Germany  in  the  next  campaign,  he  discovered  that 
Pitt  had  expected  him  to  stay  in  the  New  World  and 
to  continue  the  good  work  begun  there.  The  young 
brigadier  smoothed  the  ruffled  feathers  of  the  min 
ister  with  a  declaration  of  his  readiness  to  serve  "in 
America,  and  particularly  in  the  river  St.  Lawrence,"1 
and  it  was  not  long  before  he  once  more  embarked 
upon  the  uncongenial  sea  with  the  ship's  prow  turned 
toward  the  rendezvous  at  Louisburg.  Although  Am- 
herst  was  commander-in-chief  in  America,  the  ex 
pedition  against  the  capital  of  New  France  was  so 
distinct  in  its  field  and  so  important  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  conquest  of  Canada,  that  Wolfe  was  given 
a  locally  independent  command  analogous  to  that 
enjoyed  by  Nelson  at  the  Nile.2  In  all  other  respects 
he  was  Amherst's  subordinate.  As  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  remarked  in  a  letter  to  Lord  George  Sack- 
ville,  "Quebec  is  everything,  and  I  am  not  sure  it  is 
not  the  easiest,  as  well  as  the  greatest  plan  to  be 
pursued,"3  and  it  sometimes  seems  as  if  Amherst  were 
to  play  second  fiddle  to  Wolfe  in  the  operations  of  the 
coming  year.  Such  was  hardly  the  case,  however,  the 
illusion  being  due  to  the  fact  that  we  look  at  the  St. 
Lawrence  expedition  through  the  magnifying  lens  of 
the  Plains  of  Abraham,  whereas  in  the  winter  of  1758 
and  1759  the  menacing  posts  of  the  French  at  Crown 
Point  and  Ticonderoga  loomed  much  larger  than  Que 
bec  to  the  eyes  of  Englishmen  on  either  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  The  capture  of  Quebec  would  be  of  great 

1  Willson's,  Wolfe,  p.  400.       2  William  Wood's  Fight  for  Canada,  p.  166. 
1  Stopford-Sackville  Manuscripts,  ii,  267. 


122  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

advantage  to  England  and  a  feather  in  the  cap  of 
whatever  commander  accomplished  it;  but  the  more 
serious  work  of  the  campaign  lay  in  expelling  the 
enemy  from  northern  New  York  and  in  relieving  the 
strategic  centre  of  the  British  colonies  from  the  great 
pressure  in  that  quarter.  Time  and  again  the  English 
had  attempted  to  break  through  this  threatening 
Gallic  barrier;  but  always  in  vain.  Now  the  task 
fell  to  Amherst. 

In  the  same  letter  in  which  Pitt  announced  his 
intention  to  give  Wolfe  an  independent  command,  he 
outlined  the  operations  "which,  from  their  importance, 
difficulty  and  extent"  must  be  undertaken  by  the 
Commander-in-Chief.  First  and  foremost,  Amherst 
was  to  make  an  irruption  into  Canada,  either  by  the 
way  of  Crown  Point,  or  by  a  western  route  with  an 
attack  upon  the  enemy's  post  at  La  Galette,  where 
the  many  spires  and  smoking  chimneys  of  Ogdens- 
burg  now  picket  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  objective  of 
such  an  invasion  was  Montreal  or  Quebec,  or  both. 
Secondly,  the  port  of  Oswego,  which  had  been  de 
stroyed  by  Montcalm  two  years  before,  must  be  re 
established.  The  third  part  of  the  program  was  left 
to  Amherst's  discretion,  but  Pitt  expressed  a  hope 
that  the  General  would  find  practicable  an  enterprise 
against  the  French  fort  at  Niagara.  These  instruc 
tions  make  it  clear  that  the  war  was  no  longer  one 
of  boundaries  but  one  of  conquest.  At  last  England 
had  adopted  the  principle,  Delenda  est  Canada,  and 
she  hoped  to  find  a  Scipio  in  JefFery  Amherst. 

While  Wolfe,  intoxicated  with  the  prospect  of  great 


riCONDEROGA  123 

victories  over  the  French,  strutted  up  and  down,  and 
alarmed  Pitt  for  the  future  of  the  expedition  which  he 
had  intrusted  to  such  hands,1  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  was  busy  with  preparations  for  the  year's  work. 
Since  the  campaign  in  the  lakes  would  require  boats, 
and  crews  to  man  the  oars,  Amherst  took  Time  by 
the  forelock  and  advertised  for  "batteau  men,"  even 
before  the  snow  began  to  disappear.  Equally  im 
portant  was  the  question  of  land-transportation,  for 
which  the  General  made  provision  by  employing  the 
winter  months  in  the  construction  of  carts  and 
wagons;  for  he  knew  that  the  supply  of  vehicles 
among  the  country  people  was  inadequate  and  un 
reliable.2  The  arms  of  the  infantry  were  repaired 
and  worn-out  muskets  were  replaced  by  those  cap 
tured  at  Louisburg.  The  latter  were  much  needed, 
for,  in  Amherst's  own  words,  the  provincial  troops 
"were  far  from  being  regular  as  they  ought  to  have 
been"  in  turning  in  their  arms  at  the  end  of  the  last 
campaign.  In  the  previous  year  Pitt  had  inaugurated 
the  policy  of  furnishing  the  colonial  volunteers  with 
everything  except  clothing  and  pay,  which  he  left  to 
the  several  provinces,3  and  it  is  to  be  surmised  that 
many  a  New  England  lad  availed  himself  of  his 
Majesty's  generosity  to  carry  home  a  musket  as  a 
useful  souvenir  of  his  summer's  military  service. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  winter  a  report  came  from 
Fort  Edward  telling  of  a  skirmish  between  the  French 
garrison  at  Ticonderoga  and  a  handful  of  regulars, 

1  Mahon's  History  of  England,  ii,  378. 

*  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  32.  3  Ibid.,  i,  138. 


I24  JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

rangers,  and  Indians  under  the  redoubtable  Major 
Rogers.  The  excursion  seems  to  have  been  under 
taken  merely  as  an  outlet  for  the  pent-up  energies 
of  the  men  stationed  at  the  bend  of  the  Hudson;  but 
the  leader  brought  back  with  him  four  scalps  and 
half  a  dozen  prisoners,  besides  a  sketch  of  the  in- 
trenchments  and  fort,  which  he  hoped  might  be  use 
ful  to  the  Commander-in-Chief.  A  raid  of  this  kind 
was  hardly  consonant  with  Amherst's  notions  of  war 
fare,  but  it  reduced  the  French  by  thirty  men,  more 
or  less,  while  the  marauders  lost  only  three.  If 
Rogers  and  his  adventurous  companions  found  that 
the  excitement  recompensed  them  for  the  pains  of 
frost-bite,  he  had  no  objection  to  their  prowling 
about  on  snow-shoes  and  bagging  what  game  they 
could.  Parallel  depredations  of  a  more  remunerative 
nature  were  carried  on  by  New  York  privateers,  who 
at  one  swoop  captured  half  of  a  fleet  of  French  mer 
chant-men  and  brought  in  prizes  to  the  value  of  over 
£100,000.  With  these  occupations  and  diversions 
the  long  winter  passed,  and  gave  way  to  a  more 
active  spring. 

In  a  letter  to  the  governors  of  the  American  col 
onies  Pitt  had  urged  them  to  provide  twenty  thousand 
provincial  troops  for  the  campaign  of  1759,  leaving  to  the 
discretion  and  zeal  of  each  community  the  quota  which 
it  would  furnish.  In  New  England  the  response  to  the 
call  was  gratifying.  The  Massachusetts  assembly  agreed 
to  send  five  thousand  men,  and  a  few  weeks  later  Pow- 
nall,  the  popular  governor  of  the  Bay  Colony,  induced 


TICONDEROGA  125 

them  to  make  provision  for  fifteen  hundred  more,  al 
though  this  required  a  bounty  of  more  than  £10  per  man.1 
Connecticut  was  not  far  behind  with  five  thousand, 
while  New  York  contributed  about  twenty-five  hundred 
recruits.2  The  other  colonies  north  of  the  Carolinas 
complied  with  Pitt's  requisition  to  a  certain  extent, 
with  the  exception  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland; 
these  two  provinces  soon  demanded  Amherst's  per 
sonal  attention. 

It  was  no  mere  coincidence  that  the  two  proprie 
tary  colonies  were  the  two  which  declined  to  furnish 
troops  for  an  attack  upon  the  common  enemy.  In 
each  case  the  cause  lay  in  an  irrepressible  conflict 
between  the  proprietors  and  the  inhabitants,  and  the 
principle  at  stake  was  one  of  taxation.  In  order  to 
join  forces  with  the  neighboring  colonies  in  the  cam 
paign  of  1759,  the  Pennsylvania  assembly  agreed  to 
create  £100,000  in  bills  of  credit,  based  on  a  tax  on 
all  property,  including  that  owned  by  the  Penns.3 
This  appears  to  us  to  be  a  just  apportionment,  but 
the  proprietors  entertained  a  different  view.  They 
were  quite  ready  to  pay  taxes  on  lands  from  which 
they  derived  rent,  but  refused  to  have  a  penny  levied 
upon  their  great  tracts  of  ungranted  domain.4  The 
Governor,  being  under  a  bond  of  £5000  to  the  pro 
prietors  to  obey  their  orders,  could  not  give  his 
assent  to  the  supply  bill  in  its  original  form;  there 
fore  he  amended  it  to  exclude  all  their  estates  except 

1  Ibid.,  ii,  91. 

2  Calendar  of  Home  Office  Papers,  1760-1765,  §  98. 

8  Winfred  T.  Root's  Relations  of  Pennsylvania  with  the  British  Government, 
1696-1765,  p.  209.        4  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  ii,  335-336. 


126  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  quit-rents  and  appropriated  tradts.  At  such  a 
proposition  the  House  rose  up  in  its  wrath  and 
declared  that  the  Governor  had  no  power  to  change 
money  bills.  Whether  the  Assembly  was  right  or 
not,  Brigadier  Stanwix,  who  was  the  chief  army 
officer  in  the  colony,  took  its  protest  as  his  cue,  and 
asked  Amherst  to  come  to  Philadelphia  and  break 
the  deadlock;  otherwise  there  would  be  little  pros- 
pedr.  of  a  Pennsylvania  contingent  to  the  British 
forces  in  North  America. 

The  Commander-in-Chief  lost  no  time  in  starting 
for  the  scene  of  the  political  wrangle.  He  had  con 
templated  a  visit  to  the  Delaware  earlier  in  the  sea 
son  to  discuss  Indian  affairs  with  the  governors  of 
the  central  colonies  and  Virginia,  but  the  proposed 
congress  of  magistrates  never  actually  met  and  the 
trip  to  Philadelphia  had  been  given  up.  Now  his 
presence  was  much  needed  in  the  Quaker  capital, 
and  on  the  morning  of  April  7,  General  Amherst, 
accompanied  by  his  brother  William,  and  a  few  other 
gentlemen,  embarked  upon  a  sloop  and  set  out  for 
the  Jersey  shore.  They  reached  Elizabeth  about 
noon,  whence,  after  resting  and  refreshing  themselves 
with  "tea  at  West's"  they  continued  on  their  way, 
arriving  at  New  Brunswick  before  sundown.  From 
there  the  route  lay  through  Trenton  and  Bristol.  At 
noon  of  the  third  day  Amherst  got  his  first  glimpse 
of  the  most  populous  town  in  the  colonies,  and  soon 
took  up  his  quarters  at  one  "Mr.  Griffith's,  Quaker."  l 
The  next  two  days  were  full  of  business  for  the 

1  Montresor's  Journals,  p.  66. 


TICONDEROGA  127 

Commander-in-Chief.  The  supply  bill  must  be 
passed,  and  Amherst  took  the  matter  seriously  in 
hand.  First  he  talked  to  the  Speaker  of  the  Assem 
bly  and  to  some  of  the  leading  members,  but  all  the 
arts  of  argumentation  and  persuasion  were  useless. 
The  popular  branch  of  the  government  cared  more 
for  the  principle  at  stake  than  for  the  reputation  of 
the  province.  Failing  in  this  attack,  the  General 
resorted  to  a  message,  which  he  thought  would  stir 
the  dormant  patriotism  of  the  legislators;  "but 
that  had  not  the  consequence  I  designed. " l  The 
Assembly  remained  obdurate,  and  Amherst  was 
forced  to  confess  himself  beaten.  There  remained 
but  one  way  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  —  the  Gover 
nor  must  disobey  the  proprietors'  instructions  and 
pass  the  supply  bill  with  all  its  provisions.  As  long 
as  his  purposes  could  be  accomplished  in  a  legal  way 
Amherst  was  careful  to  remain  within  the  law;  but 
in  a  case  of  emergency  he  had  no  scruples  against 
ignoring  such  sanctions,  if  they  interfered  with  what 
he  saw  clearly  to  be  the  best  course.  This  was  true 
in  1780  when  he  suppressed  the  Gordon  Riots  with 
an  iron  hand,  and  his  attitude  was  the  same  in  1759. 
Governor  Denny,  like  most  provincial  governors, 
was  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone. 
On  the  one  hand  he  was  under  a  bond  of  £5000 
to  the  Penns  to  obey  their  orders;  on  the  other,  he 
was  dependent  upon  the  Assembly  for  his  salary  and 
the  expenses  of  government.  It  was  the  proverbial 
choice  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea.  Just 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  88. 


128  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

which  Denny  would  have  chosen,  if  left  to  himself, 
it  is  difficult  to  say;  but  Amherst's  influence  tipped 
the  scales  in  favor  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania. 
When  the  Commander-in-Chief  left  Philadelphia  he 
wrote  to  the  Governor  asking  him  to  waive  his  in 
structions  and  to  give  his  assent  to  the  supply  bill  as 
brought  in  by  the  Assembly.  The  exigent  circum 
stances  justified  such  action  in  the  mind  of  the  Gen 
eral  and  he  promised  to  explain  the  situation  to  the 
ministry.1  Denny  did  as  Amherst  requested.  Penn 
sylvania  furnished  over  three  thousand  troops  for  the 
coming  campaign  2  and  the  Governor  was  voted  his 
stipend  of  £1000.  As  far  as  Amherst  was  concerned, 
the  incident  was  closed;  but  Denny's  troubles  had 
only  begun.  The  proprietors  looked  upon  his  remu 
neration  as  a  bribe  and  threatened  to  take  action 
against  the  bond.  This  peril  was  averted  by  the 
decision  of  the  Assembly  to  indemnify  the  governor 
in  case  the  Penns  went  to  such  extremes,  but  Denny 
was  dismissed  from  office.3  One  cannot  help  thinking 
that  the  relations  between  Amherst  and  the  fallen 
magistrate  must  have  been  considerably  strained  by 
the  consequences  of  the  General's  request  in  the 
spring  of  1759;  but  after  all,  it  was  only  a  request, 
and  Denny  had  no  one  but  himself  to  blame  for  the 
course  of  action  pursued  on  that  occasion.4 

1  Minutes  of  the  Provincial  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  better  known  as 
Pennsylvania  Colonial  Records,  viii,  331-332. 

2  Calendar  of  Home  Office  Papers,  1760-1765,  p.  98. 

8  Root's  Pennsylvania  and  Great  Britain,  1696-1763,  p.  210. 
4  Maryland   was   even   more    refractory   than    Pennsylvania.     Amherst 
wrote  to  Governor  Sharpe  every   year,  requiring  Maryland's  quota  of  pro- 


TICONDEROGA  129 

While  at  Philadelphia  Amherst  conferred  with 
another  group  of  men.  These  were  the  deputies  of 
the  Iroquois  and  other  Indian  tribes,  who  desired 
specific  information  concerning  a  treaty  entered  into 
with  the  English  in  the  previous  year.  Ever  since 
Braddock's  defeat  the  Delawares  and  Shawanoes 
had  been  in  open  hostility  to  the  British  and  had 
displayed  their  animosity  by  frequent  attacks  upon 
the  frontier  settlements  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Iro 
quois,  although  nominally  subjects  of  the  King  of 
Great  Britain,  wavered  between  the  exhortations  of 
their  English  champion,  Sir  William  Johnson,  and  the 
cajoleries  of  the  cunning  Frenchmen.  In  each  tribe 
there  was  an  English  party  and  one  that  favored  the 
enemy.  While  pushing  his  tedious  way  towards 
Fort  Duquesne  in  the  summer  of  1758,  Brigadier 
Forbes  brought  about  "a  general  convention  of  the 
Indians,"  which  met  at  the  town  of  Easton  in  October. 
The  session  lasted  almost  three  weeks  and  terminated 
in  a  burial  of  the  hatchet,  "so  deep  that  nobody  can 
dig  it  up  again."1  The  pacification  thus  achieved 
extended  also  to  the  western  Indians  who  were  trib 
utary  to  the  Iroquois,  and  promised  to  remove  one 
great  annoyance  to  British  arms  in  the  present  war. 
On  her  part  England,  or  rather  Pennsylvania,  prom 
ised  to  make  no  more  settlements  west  of  the  Alle- 

vincial  troops,  but  on  each  occasion  the  lower  house  granted  it  only  under 
conditions  which  were  not  to  be  thought  of  by  the  upper  house.  The  Mary 
land  contingent  was  non-existent  in  this  period.  In  1762  the  requisition  was 
only  84  men,  but  even  these  were  not  forthcoming. 

Maryland  Archives,  vol.  ix,  pp.  332,  392,  510.     Vol.  xiv,  pp.  28,  48. 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii,  155. 


130  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

ghanies.1  During  the  winter  the  untutored  mind 
seems  to  have  been  seized  with  an  access  of  suspi 
cion,  and  Indian  deputies  flocked  to  Philadelphia  to 
ascertain  the  exact  terms  of  the  agreement.  There 
Amherst  received  them  and  gave  assurance  that  the 
English  would  live  up  to  their  obligations,2  whereupon 
the  red  men,  with  restored  confidence,  grunted  their 
satisfaction  and  departed  for  the  wilderness,  leaving 
the  General  to  follow  up  his  advantage  by  directing 
Sir  William  Johnson  to  engage  as  many  Indians  as 
possible  for  the  year's  operations.3 

With  at  least  one  result  to  show  for  his  southern 
excursion,  Amherst  turned  his  face  once  more  towards 
New  York,  and  left  Philadelphia  on  April  u,  a  little 
before  midday.  The  journey  was  broken  by  dinner 
at  Burlington,  whence  the  party  went  on  to  Cross- 
wicks  to  spend  the  night.  The  next  day  carried 
them  as  far  as  Perth  Amboy,  where  the  General  was 
entertained  at  dinner  by  Governor  Bernard,  —  the 
same  gentleman  who  was  soon  to  be  transferred  to 
Massachusetts  and  to  earn  a  baronetcy  by  exas 
perating  the  people  to  the  point  of  rebellion.  Am 
herst  reviewed  a  regiment  quartered  in  the  town,  and 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  took  leave  of  his  well- 
meaning  host.  Going  on  board  his  sloop,  the  Gen 
eral  sailed  across  the  bay  and  arrived  at  New  York 
early  the  next  morning.4 

1  Clarence  W.  Alvord's  Genesis  of  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  pp.  13-14. 

2  Journals  of  the  House  of  Burgesses   of  Virginia  1761-1765  (edited  by 
J.  P.  Kennedy),  p.  xi. 

3  Brodhead's  New  York  Documents,  vii,  389. 

4  Montresors  Journals,  p.  61. 


TICONDEROGA  131 

Amherst's  first  care  was  to  dispatch  to  Louisburg 
the  troops  destined  for  Wolfe's  expedition  against 
Quebec.  When  this  was  done,  he  turned  his  atten 
tion  towards  his  own  campaign.  Pitt  had  appointed 
Albany  as  the  rendezvous,  and  May  i  as  the  date 
for  the  assembling  of  the  regular  and  provincial 
forces  under  Amherst's  immediate  command. 

The  General  intended  that  he,  at  least,  should  be 
punctual.  Leaving  his  headquarters  on  the  after 
noon  of  April  28,  he  went  on  board  the  official  sloop, 
while  the  cannon  at  the  Battery  roared  out  a  fare 
well  salute  of  fifteen  guns.1  Apparently  the  winds 
did  not  favor  a  voyage  up  the  Hudson,  for  the  boats 
lay  at  anchor  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours  and 
prevented  the  Commander-in-Chief  from  making  the 
early  start  which  he  so  much  desired.  Before  long, 
however,  Amherst  ascended  the  picturesque  stream 
and  arrived  at  Albany  on  the  third  day  of  May. 
Not  a  regiment  of  the  provincial  contingent  had  yet 
appeared  at  the  rendezvous  on  the  Hudson;  but 
while  he  waited  for  the  Americans  to  come  in,  the 
General  made  good  use  of  his  time  by  planning  and 
organizing  an  expedition  against  Fort  Niagara,  the 
French  post  between  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie. 

Pitt's  instructions  to  Amherst  had  suggested  "some 
enterprise"  against  Niagara,  "the  success  of  which 
would  so  greatly  contribute  to  establish  the  uninter 
rupted  dominion  of  that  Lake,  and,  at  the  same 
time  effectually  cut  off  the  communication  between 
Canada  and  the  French  settlements  to  the  South." 

1  Montresor's  Journals ,  p.  68. 


132  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

The  Minister's  idea  was  excellent,  but  he  made  his 
proposal  before  hearing  of  the  outcome  of  Forbes' 
operations  against  Fort  Duquesne.  The  latter  under 
taking  was  so  slow  and  tedious  that  Pitt  doubtless 
considered  its  success  in  that  year  to  be  dubious  at 
best.  Accordingly,  he  intended  to  cut  the  French 
line  of  communication  through  the  Lakes  at  Niag 
ara,  and  thus  render  the  Ohio  posts  and  those  to  the 
westward  untenable  if  not  useless.  In  making  this 
proposition,  however,  the  Secretary  of  State  left 
its  adoption  or  rejection  wholly  to  the  discretion  of 
Amherst.1  The  General's  decision  to  send  five  thou 
sand  men  to  capture  a  fortress  which  was  in  no  sense 
a  menace  to  the  British,  was  an  error  in  judgment 
scarcely  justified  even  by  the  success  of  the  enter 
prise.  The  troops  thus  drawn  off  from  the  main 
army  might  have  been  better  employed  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  in  pushing  forward  his  "irruption 
into  Canada"  by  the  way  of  Lake  Champlain;2  but 
with  his  mind  made  up  to  add  the  capture  of  Niagara 
to  the  growing  list  of  victories,  Amherst  sent  for  Sir 
William  Johnson,  the  manipulator  of  the  Iroquois, 
to  arrange  for  a  goodly  supply  of  Indian  auxilia 
ries. 

On  the  fourth  of  May  the  General  and  the  frontier 
Baronet  met  at  Schenedlady.  Although  the  former 
would  not  confide  his  intentions  to  Sir  William  lest 
the  secret  leak  out  through  him  to  his  Indians,  and 
thence  to  the  enemy,  Johnson  was  positive  in  his 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  13. 
*  Von  Ruville's  William  Pitt,  ii,  264. 


TICONDEROGA  133 

assertion  that  the  Sachems  were  "firm  to  the  Eng 
lish"  and  that  he  was  certain  of  eight  hundred  sav 
ages  who  would  go  with  him.  Thus  reassured, 
Amherst  awaited  the  arrival  of  Brigadier-General  Pri- 
deaux,  whom  he  had  selected  to  command  the  expedi 
tion.  By  the  middle  of  the  month  the  prospective 
leader  was  at  Albany,  and  the  Commander-in-Chief 
immediately  gave  him  his  instructions.  Prideaux 
was  to  ascend  the  Mohawk  and  continue  westward 
to  Oswego:  there  he  must  leave  about  half  of  his 
force  to  build  a  fort,  in  accordance  with  Pitt's  in 
junction,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  men  take  Niagara. 
For  this  undertaking  Amherst  told  off  about  five 
thousand  regulars  and  provincials,  of  whom  a  slight 
majority  were  men  from  New  York.  These  forces 
were  to  be  increased  at  Oswego  by  as  many  Indians 
as  Sir  William  Johnson  could  collect  and  retain.1 
On  May  20  the  Niagara  expedition  started  on  its 
way  up  the  Mohawk. 

Meanwhile  Amherst  patiently  awaited  the  assem 
bling  of  the  colonial  contingent  of  his  army.  The 
first  troops  to  put  in  an  appearance  came  from  Rhode 
Island;  then  came  the  New  Yorkers,  who  were  closely 
followed  by  the  men  from  Massachusetts.  The  month 
of  May  was  exceptionally  rainy,  and  the  Hudson, 
rising  "on  a  sudden,"  still  further  contributed  to 
Amherst's  difficulties.  At  first  the  General  rejoiced 
in  the  high  water  because  it  promised  to  facilitate 
transportation  up  the  rivers,  but  when  the  swelling 

1  Amber st  to  Johnson,  A.  and  W.  I.,  Vol.  90,  No.  63,  in  the  Public  Record 
Office. 


134  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

of  the  stream  was  increased  by  a  "very  violent 
rain/'  some  of  the  soldiers  were  given  unlooked-for 
employment.  Prideaux  had  collected  a  large  number 
of  boats  at  Schenectady  for  the  use  of  his  expedition. 
The  unexpected  inundation  floated  them  off,  and  down 
the  Mohawk  sped  the  irresponsible  craft,  while  the 
distressed  Brigadier  sent  to  Amherst  for  help.  The 
Commander-in-Chief  at  once  dispatched  a  body  of 
men  to  the  river  with  instructions  to  stop  the  run 
away  boats  before  they  reached  "the  Great  Falls. " 
It  was  no  easy  task,  but  the  feat  was  accomplished, 
fairly  successfully,  and  only  a  few  members  of  the 
unruly  flotilla  eluded  their  would-be  captors  and 
crashed  to  pieces  in  the  seventy-foot  plunge  at  Co- 
hoes.  While  the  wreckage  of  these  bateaux  swept 
by  Albany  on  the  turgid  waters  of  the  Hudson, 
Amherst,  impatient  of  longer  delay,  took  what  troops 
he  had  and  moved  up  the  river.  On  the  third  of 
June  he  was  at  Half  Moon.  From  there  the  army 
rowed  up  stream  to  Stillwater,  Saratoga,  and  finally 
to  Fort  Edward,  which  stood  at  the  sharp  bend  of 
the  Hudson.  Here  Amherst  called  a  halt,  and  gave 
the  rain-drenched  men,  who,  he  declared,  had  "not 
a  dry  thread  on  them,"  an  opportunity  to  recuperate 
from  their  hard  tug  against  the  rushing  current. 

From  the  outset  of  the  campaign  the  General  made 
a  firm  stand  for  two  principles,  temperance  and  hu 
manity.  We  have  seen  that  after  the  Boston  episode 
Amherst  was  determined  to  prevent  any  repetition 
of  that  debauch.  In  the  spring  of  1759,  he  made 
this  resolve  an  actuality  by  prohibiting  the  use  of 


riCONDEROGA  135 

rum  or  other  spirituous  liquors  in  the  forces  under 
his  command.1 

This  "prohibitation"  was  a  far  greater  denial  to 
the  army  than  the  twentieth-century  mind  can  easily 
comprehend,  for  our  ancestors  looked  upon  rum  as  a 
necessary  of  life.  The  farmer  in  the  hay-field,  the 
deacon  at  the  church-raising,  and  the  soldier  on  the 
march,  each  required  his  daily  allowance  of  the  cheap 
alcoholic  stimulant,  and  regarded  it  as  a  preventive 
against  the  many  ills  which  threatened  his  existence. 
Twenty  years  later  the  American  soldiers  in  the 
Revolution  refused  to  fight  because  their  supply  of 
rum  was  cut  off;  but  Amherst  succeeded  in  carrying 
out  his  temperance  policy  by  substituting  for  the 
stronger  liquor  an  interesting  drink  called  spruce 
beer.  This  beverage  was  brewed  from  the  fresh  green 
tips  of  spruce  branches  with  a  generous  admixture  of 
molasses,  and  was  held  to  be  efficacious  as  a  cure  for 
scurvy  and  other  diseases  which  were  likely  to  attack 
an  army  in  the  wilderness.  Amherst  was  a  confirmed 
believer  in  its  medicinal  virtue,  for  his  men  at  Louis- 
burg  had  fortified  their  constitutions  with  it,  —  and 
had  proved  at  least  its  innocuousness.2  In  the  present 
campaign  spruce  beer  was  brewed  in  great  quanti 
ties  and  "served  at  cost,"  a  half-penny  per  quart.3 
Later  in  the  summer  when  the  army  became  sickly, 
the  General  attributed  the  men's  illness  to  their  cus 
tom  of  "drinking  water  wherever  they  find  it"  and 

1  Bonney's  Legacy  of  Historical  Gleanings,  i,  28. 

2  Knox's  Journal,  i,  184. 

J  Commissary  Wilson  s  Orderly  Book,  pp.  19-20,  and  137. 


136  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

tried  to  overcome  the  trouble  by  his  sovereign  rem 
edy.1  The  provincials,  on  the  contrary,  probably 
considered  the  prohibition  of  rum  as  the  chief  cause 
of  their  malady;  and  who  shall  say  which  attribu 
tion,  if  either,  was  correct? 

The  humanity  of  Jeffery  Amherst  displayed  itself 
in  his  general  orders  of  June  12,  that  no  scouting 
parties  or  others  in  the  army  under  his  command 
should  scalp  any  women  or  children  belonging  to  the 
enemy.  But  if  such  deeds  were  perpetrated  by  the 
French  upon  the  English,  the  General  declared  that 
they  should  be  avenged  by  the  death  of  two  men  of 
the  enemy  for  every  woman  or  child  "murthered." 
The  mathematics  of  this  retribution  attest  the  com 
mander's  detestation  of  the  promiscuous  butchering 
which  had  marked  French  and  Indian  raids  upon  the 
frontier  settlements.  One  of  these  had  just  occurred 
in  central  New  York  and  occasioned  the  expression 
of  Amherst's  sentiments  in  the  general  orders  just 
mentioned.  Lest  there  be  any  misunderstanding  of 
his  intentions,  the  General  took  pains  to  send 
an  officer  with  a  flag  of  truce  to  present  a  copy  of 
his  edict  to  the  French  officer  in  command  at  Ticon- 
deroga. 

Before  dawn  on  the  twenty-first  of  June  the  Brit 
ish  camp  at  Fort  Edward  was  the  scene  of  great 
activity.  Tents  were  struck  at  three  o'clock;  by 
four,  the  artillery  and  regiments  began  to  embark 
upon  the  diminutive  Hudson,  whose  course  they  were 
to  follow  as  far  as  possible  in  the  direction  of  Lake 

1  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Proceedings,  viii,  101. 


TICONDEROGA  137 

George.  At  ten  o'clock  Amherst  left  Fort  Edward 
and  followed  the  army  in  its  progress  through  the 
wilderness.  The  advance-guard  consisted  of  Rog 
ers'  Rangers  and  some  light  infantry,  who  kept  flank 
ing  parties  on  either  side  to  insure  the  forces  against 
a  surprise.  The  march  was  accomplished  with  such 
celerity  that  at  sundown  of  that  long  June  day  the 
British  emerged  from  the  dark  forest  and  encamped 
on  the  southern  shores  of  the  mountain  lake.  Here 
occurred  a  discouragingly  long  delay  of  one  month, 
much  of  the  time  being  spent  in  building  or  repair 
ing  boats  and  rafts  to  carry  the  troops  and  artillery 
across  the  lake.  At  the  end  of  his  bungling  campaign 
in  these  parts  during  the  previous  year  Abercromby 
carefully  sank  the  sloop-of-war  which  had  patrolled 
those  placid  waters,  and  hid  the  whale  boats  in  the 
woods  lest  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.1 
It  seems  as  if  Amherst  might  have  had  these  neces 
sary  means  of  transportation  put  in  commission  be 
fore  the  arrival  of  his  army;  but  apparently  little 
or  nothing  had  been  done,  and  while  part  of  the 
troops  were  busy  with  this  work,  the  General  found 
occupation  for  the  rest  in  the  construction  of  a  fort 
of  no  mean  dimensions.  The  latter  undertaking  was 
begun  in  earnest  early  in  July,  but  only  one  bastion 
was  ever  finished,  for  the  outcome  of  the  campaign 
deprived  a  stronghold  at  this  point  of  any  raison 
d'etre.  Much  blame  has  been  heaped  upon  Amherst 
for  building  Fort  George,  as  it  was  called,  and  his 
critics  have  lamented  the  time  and  energy  wasted 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i,  402. 


138  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

upon  a  needless  post;  but  to  do  the  General  justice, 
it  should  be  pointed  out  that  Pitt  had  specifically 
directed  him  to  build  a  fort  "at  Lake  George,"1  and 
that  Amherst  had  promised  to  do  so.  In  the  light  of 
what  actually  happened  the  construction  of  Fort 
George  seems  an  unnecessary  precaution,  but  Am 
herst,  although  confident,  could  not  be  sure  of  victory, 
where  his  predecessor  had  found  defeat.  If  Fortune 
turned  against  the  British  arms  it  would  be  well  to 
have  a  fortified  base  nearer  the  scene  of  hostilities 
than  Fort  Edward. 

As  these  shores  had  been  the  annual  mustering 
place  of  armies  for  the  past  four  years,  —  and  occa 
sionally  a  battle-ground  for  the  French  and  the 
English,  —  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  soldiers  were 
continually  discovering  pieces  of  old  ammunition  and 
discarded  muskets.  This  led  Amherst  to  issue  the 
following  amusing  order:  "As  shells  and  shot  may 
have  been  left  by  the  enemy  or  may  be  fired  from  the 
enemy  during  the  campaign,  which  will  be  of  use  in 
firing  back  to  them  again,  the  following  prices  shall 
be  allowed  to  those  who  shall  pick  them  up  and 
deliver  them  to  the  commanding  officer  at  the  artil 
lery  park:  for  a  13  inch  shell,  one  dollar;  an  eight- 
inch  shell,  a  quarter  dollar;  large  shot,  2d  each, 
smaller  at  id  each."2  Five  shillings  was  the  price 
"for  every  good  repairable  fire-lock."  This  quaint 
table  of  values  makes  one  realize  more  vividly,  per 
haps,  than  any  other  one  thing  the  difference  between 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  i.  421. 
1  Wilson's  Orderly  Book,  pp.  76-77. 


TICONDEROGA  139 

eighteenth-century  warfare  and  that  practised  in  our 
more  efficient,  if  less  economical,  age. 

Fort  Ticonderoga  stood  upon  a  lonely  promontory 
between  the  outlet  of  Lake  George  and  the  narrow 
southern  end  of  Lake  Champlain.  On  three  sides 
the  position  was  protected  by  rocky  shores;  on  the 
fourth,  by  a  swamp  and  by  the  deadly  breastwork 
that  Montcalm  had  erected  to  repel  Abercromby. 
The  fort  itself  was  square,  with  four  bastions,  and  the 
French,  with  their  happy  faculty  for  picturesque  and 
appropriate  names,  called  it  Carrillon,  which  means 
a  square  piece  of  iron;  so  far  it  had  justified  its 
appellation.  When  Abercromby  attempted  its  cap 
ture,  the  place  was  commanded  by  Montcalm;  but 
now  the  gallant  Marquis  was  defending  Quebec  from 
the  onslaught  of  the  British  under  Wolfe  and  Saun- 
ders.  In  his  stead  Bourlamaque,  who  had  been 
dangerously  wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  previous 
July,  was  in  charge  of  Carrillon  with  instructions  to 
hold  the  post  if  possible,  but  if  overborne  by  num 
bers,  to  fall  back  to  Isle  aux  Noix  at  the  northern  end 
of  Lake  Champlain.  His  forces  were  nearly  equal  to 
those  at  Montcalm's  disposal  in  1758,  while  Amherst's 
army  was  much  smaller  than  that  which  Abercromby 
had  hurled  at  the  enemy's  intrenchment  in  vain,  and 
the  prospect  of  smart  fighting  and  a  regular  siege  was 
before  the  English  as  they  broke  up  their  camp  and 
prepared  to  embark  upon  Lake  George. 

On  the  morning  of  July  21,  Amherst  and  his  army 
of  about  eleven  thousand  men  got  into  the  boats  and 
pushed  out  upon  the  mountain-rimmed  lake.  The 


I4o  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

departure  was  not  without  accidents.  Many  of  the 
craft  were  so  unseaworthy  that  no  sooner  were  they 
loaded  than  they  had  to  be  relieved  of  their  cargoes 
to  prevent  them  from  sinking  One  bateau,  carrying 
a  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder,  went  to  the  bottom 
in  company  with  a  raft  overloaded  with  two  heavy 
mortars.  These  mishaps  provoked  the  General,  but 
leaving  the  sunken  vessels  where  they  were,  he  went 
on  board  the  radeau  "Invincible,"  which  resembled 
both  a  raft  and  a  boat,  and  gave  the  signal  to  ad 
vance.  The  flotilla  presented  a  remarkable  spectacle 
as  it  proceeded  down  the  lake.  First  came  a  flat- 
bottomed  affair  mounting  a  three-pounder,  then  the 
vanguard  of  light  infantry  in  forty  whale-boats, 
followed  by  the  main  army,  with  the  sloop  "Hali 
fax,"  which  had  been  reclaimed  from  the  depths, 
bringing  up  the  rear.  The  men  used  their  blankets 
for  sails  whenever  the  fresh  wind  allowed  them  to  do 
so,1  and  thus  the  long  procession  steered  its  way 
between  the  islands  and  across  the  broads.  A  little 
before  dark  Amherst  made  the  signal  to  bring-to,  and 
the  army  passed  an  uncomfortably  windy  night  en 
bateau.  At  daybreak  the  boats  pushed  on  until  they 
reached  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  where  the  troops  made 
an  orderly  landing  at  nearly  the  same  spot  chosen  by 
Abercromby  for  his  disembarkation  the  year  before. 

When  all  were  on  shore  the  General  put  the  army 
in  motion  towards  the  dreaded  fortress,  and  before 
long  the  advance-guard  encountered  a  small  band  of 
French  and  Indians,  who  made  only  a  feeble  resis- 

1  Knox's  Journal,  i,  396. 


TICONDEROGA  141 

tance.  The  British  then  found  themselves  on  some 
heights,  upon  which  they  rested  and  waited  for  the 
artillery  to  come  up,  for  Amherst  had  no  intention  of 
repeating  the  blunder  of  his  predecessor.  Bour- 
lamaque,  perceiving  his  opponent's  plans,  became 
uneasy:  the  intrenchments  that  had  wrought  de 
struction  upon  Abercromby's  forces  could  not  hold 
out  for  any  length  of  time  against  regular  approaches 
supported  by  artillery,  and  the  Frenchman  decided 
to  retreat  into  the  fort.  Amherst,  advancing  cau 
tiously  on  the  forenoon  of  July  23,  found  the  famous 
lines  abandoned,  and  at  once  encamped  in  front  of 
them,  where  he  was  well  sheltered  from  the  cannon 
of  Carrillon.  So  far  Fortune  had  indeed  smiled  upon 
the  General.  But  even  better  luck  awaited  him,  for 
Bourlamaque,  despairing  of  successful  resistance,  had 
already  left  Ticonderoga,  and  was  hurrying  toward 
Crown  Point  with  all  but  four  hundred  of  his  troops. 
The  enemy's  conduct  was  inglorious,  yet  after  the 
surrender  of  the  lines  this  was  doubtless  their  wisest 
course. 

Meanwhile  the  detachment  left  at  Carrillon  fully 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  British.  The  fort 
maintained  a  brisk  fire,  and  in  its  dying  gasp  brought 
grief  to  the  English  army.  A  cannon-shot,  plunging 
over  the  reversed  intrenchments,  killed  Colonel 
Roger  Townshend.  This  officer  has  been  called  the 
Lord  Howe  of  Amherst's  army,  and  in  many  ways 
the  metaphor  is  a  good  one.  He  was  young  and 
handsome,  and  came  of  a  family  that  had  belonged 


I42  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

to  the  peerage  ever  since  the  Restoration.  In  1758, 
Sir  John  Ligonier  sent  him  to  Louisburg  as  adjutant- 
general,  in  which  capacity  he  acquitted  himself  so 
well  that  Amherst  gave  him  the  same  duties  for  the 
present  campaign.  Had  Roger  Townshend  not  met 
sudden  death  at  the  lines  of  Ticonderoga,  it  is  prob 
able  that  he  would  have  won  a  reputation  compa 
rable  to  that  of  either  of  his  two  elder  brothers.  One 
of  these  succeeded  to  Wolfe's  command  and  received 
the  surrender  of  Quebec  after  the  battle  on  the  Plains 
of  Abraham.  The  other  was  a  dashing  politician  and 
a  brilliant  speaker,  who  is  remembered  chiefly  for  a 
scintillating  speech,  which  justly  gained  its  author 
the  sobriquet  of  "Champagne"  Townshend,  and 
for  certain  revenue  acl:s  that  were  among  the  causes 
of  the  American  Revolution.  Although  Roger  Town 
shend  failed  to  achieve  the  fame  and  notoriety  of  his 
brothers,  he  was  "deservedly  lamented  by  the  Gen 
eral  and  the  army,"  and  his  memory,  like  that  of 
Lord  Howe,  is  preserved  by  a  monument  in  West 
minster  Abbey. 

Amherst  was  aware  of  the  flight  of  Bourlamaque 
but  the  good  news  by  no  means  led  him  to  precipi 
tate  adlion.  He  waited  for  his  artillery  to  come  up 
to  the  lines,  planted  batteries,  and  completed  prepa 
rations  for  a  regular  siege.1  The  evening  of  July  26, 
found  everything  arranged  as  the  General  would  have 
it;  at  break  of  day  he  intended  to  open  fire.  Sud 
denly  at  ten  o'clock  the  silence  of  the  forest  night 

1  Brodhead's  New  York  Documents,  vol.  vii,  p.  400. 


TICONDEROGA  143 

was  broken  by  the  roar  of  an  explosion,  and  turning 
their  eyes  towards  the  French  fortress,  the  English 
beheld  a  great  conflagration  rising  above  the  tree- 
tops.  Some  deserters  from  the  enemy  reported  that 
the  garrison  had  abandoned  the  fort  and  were  then 
hurrying  down  Lake  Champlain  in  the  direction  of 
Crown  Point.  Amherst's  first  thought  was  to  extin 
guish  the  fire  and  to  capture  Carrillon  intact,  but  the 
French,  before  departing,  had  cleverly  loaded  all  their 
guns  and  musketry  to  the  muzzles  and  these,  being 
automatically  discharged  by  the  flames,  kept  the 
British  at  a  safe  distance  until  the  next  day.  The 
General,  therefore,  contented  himself  with  harassing 
the  rear  of  the  retreating  bateaux  of  the  garrison, 
capturing  a  few  prisoners  and  a  goodly  supply  of 
powder. 

It  is  possible  that  amid  the  crackle  of  the  con 
flagration  and  the  irregular  explosions  of  the  cannon, 
Jeffery  Amherst  thought  of  the  extraordinary  coin 
cidence  of  events  which  had  marked  July  26  during 
the  last  two  years  of  his  life.  The  same  month  and 
day  had  witnessed  in  1757  the  battle  of  Hastenbeck, 
in  1758  the  surrender  of  Louisburg,  and  now  in  1759 
the  downfall  of  Ticonderoga. 

Early  the  next  morning  a  sergeant  of  the  regulars 
asked  permission  to  venture  into  the  smoking  ruins 
in  order  to  bring  away  a  French  flag  which  still  waved 
over  the  abandoned  fortress.  Amherst  readily  gave 
his  consent,  and  in  a  short  time  the  bold  volunteer 
returned  with  the  Bourbon  colors.  At  last  Carril- 


144  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Ion,  the  destroyer  of  armies  and  the  distressing  thorn 
of  the  northern  colonists,  was  no  more.  Once  again 
the  General's  younger  brother,  Colonel  William  Am- 
herst,  sped  across  the  seas  to  carry  encouraging  ti 
dings  to  Old  England,  while  America  rejoiced  and 
was  exceeding  glad.  Amherst  appointed  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  July  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  in  the  camp,1 
and  it  is  to  be  suspedled  that  on  that  occasion  the 
ban  on  stimulants  was  temporarily  raised;  for  Colo 
nel  Montresor,  who  was  at  the  head  of  Lake  George, 
recorded  in  his  journal  under  July  28:  "We  cele 
brated  the  taking  of  Ticonderoga  by  making  bon 
fires  on  the  highest  part  of  the  Camp  and  giving  the 
workmen  one  gill  of  rum  apiece." 

After  these  demonstrations  were  over,  the  General 
turned  the  energies  of  his  men  to  levelling  the  trenches 
and  batteries,  and  to  raising  the  boats,  which  the 
fleeing  army  had  sunk  in  the  lake,  lest  they  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  English  in  good  condition.  When 
the  fire  in  the  fort  was  finally  extinguished,  Amherst 
discovered  that  only  a  small  part  of  the  whole 
structure  had  been  ruined  by  the  explosion  and  the 
flames,  and  he  ordered  it  to  be  repaired  by  four  pro 
vincial  regiments  under  the  superintendence  of  Colonel 
Schuyler.  Having  seen  these  enterprises  well  under 
way,  the  deliberate  Commander-in-Chief  assembled 
the  larger  part  of  his  forces  and  advanced  down  the 
Narrows  of  Lake  Champlain.  Fort  Frederic,  as  the 

1  Samuel  Niles*  Summary  Historical  Narrative,  etc.,  printed  in  the  Massa 
chusetts  Historical  Society's,  Colltflions,  series  iv,  vol.  v. 


riCONDEROGA  145 

French  called  their  long-established  post  at  Crown 
Point,  commanded  these  inland  waters,  and  its  mas 
sive  stone  tower,  bristling  with  cannon,  bade  defiance 
to  the  rightful  occupants  of  the  region.  Thither 
Bourlamaque  had  fled,  and  thither  Amherst  intended 
to  follow  and  to  conquer. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LAKE    CHAMPLAIN 

AT  noon  on  August  i,  a  scouting  party  came  to 
the  camp  at  Ticonderoga  announcing  that  the 
enemy  had  abandoned  Crown  Point  and  were 
headed  northward  down  the  lake.  The  next  day  a 
heavy  rain  prevented  Amherst  from  confirming  the 
report;  but  on  the  fourth  the  British  army  resumed 
its  victorious  journey,  landed  on  the  beautiful  prom 
ontory,  and  took  possession  of  Fort  Frederic,  which 
was  intact  but  undefended.  The  view  from  the  new 
position  was  superb.  On  one  side  the  noble  peaks 
of  the  Adirondacks,  sweeping  upward  from  the  west 
ern  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  demand  the  admira 
tion  of  every  lover  of  Nature,  while  in  the  other 
direction  meadows  and  gentle,  rolling  country  rise 
from  the  narrowing  waters,  and  invite  one  to  the 
fertile  fields  of  Vermont.  Enjoyment  of  the  scenery, 
combined  with  elation  over  two  easy  victories,  must 
have  made  the  soldiers  feel  that  their  progress  through 
the  wilderness  was  a  fete  champetre  rather  than  a 
campaign,  and  the  illusion  was  increased  by  the 
advent  of  more  good  news.  That  very  evening  a  lieu 
tenant  arrived  with  a  letter  from  Sir  William  Johnson 
enclosing  the  capitulation  of  Niagara.  Thus  at  almost 
the  same  moment  two  gates  to  New  France  were  thrown 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  147 

open,  and  there  seemed  to  be  little  doubt  that  the 
proposed  "irruption  into  Canada"  would  take  place 
in  the  immediate  future. 

The  enterprise  against  Niagara  had  been  entrusted 
to  Brigadier-General  Prideaux.  According  to  his  in 
structions  he  had  proceeded  to  Oswego,  where  he 
left  nearly  half  his  force  under  Colonel  Haldimand 
to  build  a  fort.  With  the  remaining  troops  he  went 
westward  to  Niagara,  and  laid  siege  to  the  enemy's 
fortress,  which  was  strong  and  exceptionally  well 
built.  Its  commander,  Captain  Pouchot,  an  excellent 
officer  and  a  gallant  fighter,  had  about  six  hundred  men 
with  whom  to  defend  the  post,  but  his  chief  reliance 
was  upon  a  motley  band  of  bush-rangers  and  savages 
that  had  gathered  on  the  southern  side  of  Lake  Erie 
with  the  intention  of  recovering  Pittsburgh  from  the 
English.  These  half-civilized  forces  were  now  called 
to  the  relief  of  Niagara,  and  Pouchot  bent  every  en 
ergy  to  hold  out  until  they  arrived.  Prideaux,  who 
was  joined  by  Sir  William  Johnson  and  about  a  thou 
sand  Indian  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations,  commenced 
a  regular  siege  with  great  vigor.  Unfortunately  the 
Brigadier,  while  walking  in  the  trenches  one  evening, 
was  killed  by  the  explosion  of  a  British  shell,  which 
burst  just  as  it  left  the  mouth  of  a  coe-horn.  In  his 
pocket  was  found  a  written  order  for  Sir  William 
Johnson  to  take  command  of  the  expedition.1  Ac 
cordingly  the  Baronet  did  so,  continuing  the  same 
aggressive  tactics  which  his  ill-fated  predecessor  had 
employed  until  the  garrison  was  wellnigh  exhausted. 

1  Miles'  History  of  the  French  and  Indian  Wars,  p.  502. 


148  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

On  the  morning  of  July  24,  Pouchot  heard  distant 
firing  which  told  him  of  the  approach  of  succor; 
but  his  hopes  were  dashed  when  from  a  bastion  of 
the  battered  fortress  he  watched  a  short  but  desper 
ate  battle  between  the  British  and  the  party  that  had 
come  to  relieve  Niagara.  In  an  hour's  time  the 
French  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  those  who  were  for 
tunate  enough  to  escape  hurried  back  to  Lake  Erie 
and  thence  to  Detroit.  Johnson's  victory  was  com 
plete.  He  followed  the  battle  by  a  brisk  cannonade 
of  the  fort  and  at  four  o'clock  sent  in  a  summons 
to  surrender.  ^  The  gallant  Pouchot  saw  no  rational 
alternative.  On  the  following  day,  July  25,  1759, 
Niagara  was  surrendered  to  the  English,  and  the 
French  posts  in  the  interior  were  still  further  isolated 
from  the  capital  of  New  France. 

Amherst  was  overjoyed  with  the  recent  victories 
which  he  termed  "an  happy  presage  of  the  entire 
reduction  of  Canada  in  this  campaign;"1  but,  as 
usual,  he  proceeded  with  the  utmost  caution.  In 
the  first  place,  he  considered  it  imperative  to  build 
at  Crown  Point  a  fort  which  should  "secure  entirely 
all  His  Majesty's  Dominions  that  are  behind  it  from 
the  Inroads  of  the  Enemy  and  the  Scalping  Partys 
that  have  infested  the  whole  Country,"  and  which 
should  "give  great  peace  and  quiet  to  the  King's 
subjects."  The  result  of  this  unfortunate  conviction 
was  that  for  two  months  the  British  army  remained 
practically  stationary  upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  while  the  French,  at  the  opposite  end  of  the 

1  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  vi,  225. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  149 

Lake,  awaited  its  advance  with  fear  and  trembling. 
The  much  talked-of  "irruption  into  Canada"  was 
not  forthcoming.  Granted  that  a  strong  fort  on  the 
frontier  is  of  great  advantage,  nevertheless  the  most 
enthusiastic  champion  of  Jeffery  Amherst  must  find  it 
difficult  to  justify  this  long  delay  in  northern  New 
York.  Whatever  his  reasons  may  have  been,  the 
Commander-in-Chief  refused  to  pursue  the  retreating 
enemy,  and  settling  down  at  Crown  Point,  spent  two 
valuable  months  in  building  a  fort,  in  cutting  a  road 
through  the  Vermont  wilderness,  and  in  brewing 
spruce  beer.  The  alleged  cause  of  his  inaction  was 
that  four  armed  vessels  of  the  French  made  the 
advance  of  his  flotilla  impossible  until  the  British 
had  an  equivalent  naval  force.  Accordingly  Amherst 
ordered  the  construction  of  a  brigantine,  a  sloop,  and 
a  huge  raft,  eighty-four  feet  long  and  twenty  feet 
broad.  Ship-building  in  the  forest  was  not  easy  at 
best,  and  in  this  case  the  work  was  hindered  by  fre 
quent  accidents  at  the  one  overworked  sawmill. 
Almost  ten  weeks  passed  before  the  fresh  water 
squadron  was  in  commission.  Ships  cannot  be  built 
in  a  day,  perhaps,  but  under  the  circumstances  could 
not  Amherst  have  employed  his  men  better  by  turn 
ing  their  labor  to  the  speedy  creation  of  a  navy  in 
stead  of  to  the  commencement  of  a  prodigious 
fort? 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  underlying  cause  of  the 
long  delay  was  not  so  much  the  lack  of  naval  power 
as  it  was  the  temperament  of  the  commander.  To 
a  man  of  Amherst's  cautious  instincts  and  methodical 


ISO  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

habits  any  other  course  was  impossible.  To  give 
chase  to  the  French  before  his  base  was  securely 
fortified  was  not  to  be  thought  of  by  a  general  as 
thorough  and  deliberate  as  he.  Wolfe  might  rush  in 
where  strategists  feared  to  tread,  but  Amherst  always 
looked  before  he  leaped,  and  also  took  care  never  to 
lose  what  had  once  been  gained.  If  one  takes  into 
consideration  this  attitude  of  mind,  the  apparent 
apathy  of  the  summer  of  1759  is  comprehensible, 
although  historians  will  never  cease  to  censure  Am 
herst  for  the  sacrifice  of  those  two  months  after 
the  occupation  of  Crown  Point.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
what  he  attempted  in  that  period  he  did  with 
characteristic  thoroughness.  The  fortifications  were 
planned  upon  a  stupendous  scale.  For  eight  weeks 
sixteen  hundred  men  were  kept  at  work  upon  the 
stronghold;1  and  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a 
structure,  the  completion  of  which  required  three 
years  of  labor  and  three  million  pounds  sterling.  In 
form  it  was  pentagonal,  with  walls  of  solid  masonry 
twenty-five  feet  thick  and  twenty  feet  high.2  The 
plan  also  included  stone  barracks,  a  parade-ground, 
and  other  military  accessories,  all  of  which  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  energetic  Ethan  Allen  and  his 
renowned  Green  Mountain  Boys  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  American  Revolution,  without  a  blow  being 
struck  on  either  side. 

Another   enterprise   undertaken   by  Amherst   while 
his  miniature  navy  was  being  built  was  the  construc- 

1  Wilson's  Orderly  Book. 

2  Vermont  Historical  Gazetteer,  i,  4. 


LAKE  CHAM  PLAIN  151 

tion  of  a  road  from  the  Vermont  shore,  opposite 
Crown  Point,  to  Number  Four,  now  Charlestown, 
New  Hampshire,  a  frontier  hamlet  on  the  Connecti 
cut  River.  The  object  was  "to  open  a  communica 
tion  from  the  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
governments  to  Crown  Point,"  and  the  work  was 
assigned  to  two  hundred  rangers  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Stark,  the  future  hero  of  Bennington.1 
As  a  result  of  these  efforts  the  New  Hampshire 
troops  marching  to  Crown  Point  a  year  later,  took 
the  cross-country  route  from  Number  Four  and  found 
a  good  road  all  the  way  from  Otter  Creek,  near 
Rutland,  to  the  rendezvous.2  Number  Four  was  one 
of  the  most  exposed  places  on  the  frontier.  In  the 
previous  war,  the  fort  there  had  defended  itself 
bravely  and  successfully  against  a  band  of  French  and 
Indians;  now  the  new  road  linked  it  with  the  stronger 
post  at  Crown  Point,  besides  opening  up  new  country 
for  settlement.  This  enterprise  was  sound  from  a 
military  standpoint  and  promised  to  be  an  aid  to  the 
expansion  of  New  Hampshire;  but  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  present  campaign,  Stark  and  his  com 
panions  might  have  been  occupied  to  better  advan 
tage  in  constructing  rafts  or  rude  ships,  with  which 
to  attack  the  lake  squadron  of  the  enemy.  Amherst 
also  amused  himself  by  sending  out  exploring  expedi 
tions,  —  one  to  discover  the  source  of  the  Hudson, 
another  to  search  out  the  course  of  Otter  Creek,  and 
still  another  to  follow  up  the  Sable  River,  not  so 

1  Stark's  General  John  Stark,  p.  27. 

2  Belknap's  History  of 'New  Hampshire,  i,  30511. 


152  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

much  to  view  its  famous  chasm  as  to  find  out  whether 
it  afforded  a  short  cut  to  the  St.  Lawrence  near  Og- 
densburg.  All  of  these  interesting  diversions  con 
sumed  valuable  time  that  might  have  been  devoted 
to  far  more  practical  purposes. 

In  the  meantime  the  soldiers  worked  manfully  at 
building  the  new  fort,  a  task  which,  to  the  provin 
cials  at  least,  was  quite  as  congenial  as  the  more 
active  form  of  warfare.  Their  lot  was  by  no  means 
an  unenviable  one.  Behind  the  captured  fort  the 
men  discovered  three  fields  of  peas,  which  recall  the 
parable  of  the  loaves  and  fishes,  for  if  the  report  is 
to  be  trusted,  they  were  "very  grateful  to  the  soldiers 
and  served  the  whole  army  for  three  days/'1  The 
long  encampment  also  gives  us  an  opportunity  to 
study  Amherst  as  a  disciplinarian.  Desertion  and 
mutiny  were  invariably  punished  with  death;  at  an 
early  hour  in  the  morning  the  culprit  was  shot  in 
front  of  his  regiment  in  the  presence  of  the  entire 
army.  Lesser  offences  were  expiated  with  the  cat-o'- 
nine-tails,  the  usual  sentence  being  five  hundred  or  a 
thousand  lashes.  One  black  sheep,  already  pardoned 
for  desertion  on  one  occasion,  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  captured  soon  after  changing  sides  a  second 
time.  When  caught  by  a  scouting  party  the  victim 
was  wearing  the  enemy's  uniform,  and  this  time  the 
General  had  no  mercy,  but  ordered  him  "to  be 
hanged  in  his  French  coat,  with  a  Libble  on  his  breast, 
Hang*  for  deserting  to  the  French"  The  order  goes 
on  to  specify  that  "he  is  to  be  hanging  all  day  and 

1  Niles*  History  of  the  French  and  Indian  Wars. 


LAKE  CHAM  PLAIN  153 

at  the  retreat  beating  he  is  to  be  buried  very  deep 
under  the  gallos,  and  his  French  coat  with  him."  l 
No  half-way  measures  these,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  execution  in  terrorem  produced  the  desired 
effect  upon  any  soldiers  who  contemplated  going  over 
to  the  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  Amherst  occa 
sionally  tempered  justice  with  mercy,  as  in  the  case 
of  a  soldier  who  was  condemned  to  be  hanged  for 
thieving:  upon  the  intercession  of  the  man's  captain, 
and  a  promise  of  no  second  offence,  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  revoked  the  sentence  and  let  the  prisoner 
go.2 

The  summer  of  1759  was  exceptionally  rainy,  and 
often  the  general  orders  required  that  the  tents  of 
the  army  be  struck  at  noon,  in  clear  weather,  so  that 
the  ground  might  be  dried  and  aired.  The  sick  were 
cared  for  even  more  solicitously.  The  men  were 
"properly  defended  from  the  dampness  by  dried  grass 
and  brushwood,"  and  every  fair  day  witnessed  a 
parade  of  the  disabled,  who  "marched  down  to  the 
lake  to  wash  their  hands  and  faces  and  cleaned 
themselves."  After  these  required  ablutions  the 
men  were  "kept  walking  about  for  an  hour,"  or  such 
time  as  their  strength  permitted,  while  their  tents 
were  opened  to  the  sun  and  air.  Considering  the 
abominable  lack  of  hygiene  and  therapeutics  that 
marked  every  age  before  the  nineteenth  century,  we 
must  acknowledge  that  the  methods  practiced  in 
the  camp  at  Crown  Point  were  surprising  and  laud 
able. 

1  Wilson's  Orderly  Book,  p.  113.  f  Ibid.,  p.  173. 


154  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

There  is  a  story  of  Jeffery  Amherst  which  is  worth 
repeating  because  it  illustrates  his  tact  in  dealing  with 
both  provincials  and  regulars.  While  at  Ticonderoga 
a  boasting  English  major  declared  that  no  American 
could  lay  him  upon  his  back.  The  challenge  was 
accepted  by  a  young  Lieutenant  Rice  from  Connecti 
cut,  who,  after  a  long  contested  match,  tripped  his 
adversary  and  proved  himself  the  better  wrestler. 
Occasionally  when  an  American  wins  an  athletic 
victory  over  one  of  his  British  cousins  there  is  a  cry 
of  foul  play,  and  the  rules  of  the  game  are  amended 
to  insure  English  success  in  the  future.  Such  seems 
to  have  been  the  case  at  Ticonderoga.  The  van 
quished  major  protested  against  the  Yankee's  method 
of  wrestling,  and  declared  that  tripping  was  unfair 
and  unmanly.  Rice's  answer  was  not  calculated  to 
turn  away  wrath.  High  words  followed  and  before 
long  the  two  men  were  ready  to  settle  the  affair  by 
a  duel.  The  time  and  place  were  already  appointed, 
when  reports  of  the  quarrel  reached  the  ears  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief.  Amherst  succeeded  in  appeal 
ing  to  his  countryman's  sense  of  military  propriety, 
and  substituted  for  the  proposed  exchange  of  shots 
a  second  wrestling-match,  under  rules  agreeable  to 
the  Englishman.  The  arrangement  was  made  over 
a  glass  of  grog;  and  after  the  contest  the  athletes 
became  firm  friends,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
second  match,  like  the  first,  was  won  by  the  Amer 
ican.1 

While  the  army  was  occupied  in  these  various  pur- 

1  B.  J.  Lossing's  Piftorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution,  i,  13011. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  155 

suits  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Champlain,  the  news  of 
Amherst's  triple  victory  reached  England.  Pitt  was 
greatly  pleased  at  the  progress  of  the  campaign  and 
embraced  the  opportunity  to  extort  a  reward  from 
the  reluctant  George  II.  Ever  since  the  capture  of 
Louisburg  the  minister  had  urged  that  Amherst  be 
given  the  governorship  of  Virginia  as  a  token  of  the 
King's  appreciation,  but  George  had  constantly  with 
held  his  consent.  The  reports  from  Ticonderoga, 
Niagara,  and  Crown  Point,  supplemented  by  Pitt's 
petulant  threat  to  resign  if  his  general  were  not  re 
warded,  put  a  different  aspect  on  the  situation.1 
Therefore,  on  September  12,  1759,  Jeffery  Amherst 
was  appointed  Governor  of  Virginia  to  succeed  Lord 
Loudon.2  The  new  office  sounds  as  if  it  were  pre 
cisely  what  the  General  wished  to  avoid,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  it  was  a  sinecure  bringing  in  £1500  a 
year.3  In  Virginia  titular  governors  were  appointed 
at  different  times.  These  fortunate  individuals  en 
joyed  the  title  and  part  of  the  emoluments  of  the 
position,  while  the  actual  conduct  of  the  government 
was  left  to  a  resident  lieutenant-governor.4  For 
Amherst  an  office  which  did  not  require  his  presence 
in  America  and  yet  contributed  to  his  income  was 
in  every  way  agreeable,  and  he  gladly  accepted  the 
appointment.  Another  honor  conferred  upon  him  in 
this  summer  was  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Major- 

1  Torrens'  History  of  Cabinets,  ii,  515. 

*  Afts  of  the  Privy  Council,  Colonial  Series,  iv,  780. 

1  Grenville  Correspondence,  iv,  349. 

4  E.  B.  Greene's  Provincial  Governor,  p.  57. 


JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

General  in  the  British  army,1  in  contradistinction  to 
his  previous  grade  of  Colonel,  "with  the  rank  of 
Major-General  in  America. "  Horace  Walpole  rarely 
let  an  event  pass  without  note  or  comment  of  some 
sort,  and  his  enthusiastic  tribute  to  Amherst  on  the 
occasion  of  the  victory  at  Ticonderoga  deserves  quo 
tation.  "We  have  taken  more  places  and  ships  in  a 
week  than  would  have  set  up  such  pedant  nations 
as  Greece  and  Rome  to  all  futurity.  If  we  did 
but  call  Sir  William  Johnson  'Gulielmus  Johnsonus 
Niagaricus'  and  Amherst  'Galfridus  Amhersta  Ti- 
conderogicus'  we  should  be  quoted  a  thousand 
years  hence  as  the  patterns  of  valour,  virtue,  and 
disinterestedness." 2 

In  the  meantime  the  crimson  foliage  of  the  tupelos 
fringing  the  rocky  shores  of  Lake  Champlain  heralded 
the  approach  of  autumn;  yet  Amherst  and  his  ten 
thousand  men  advanced  not.  Wolfe,  almost  dis 
couraged  before  Quebec,  waited  and  hoped  for  help 
from  his  chief.  Finally  he  could  delay  operations  no 
longer.  The  great  difficulty  in  the  St.  Lawrence 
expedition  had  been  to  engage  the  French  army 
outside  its  defences,  and  Wolfe's  one  desperate  chance 
lay  in  seizing  the  level  heights  above  the  town  and 
thus  forcing  the  hand  of  his  wily  adversary,  the 
Marquis  of  Montcalm.  Early  on  the  morning  of 
September  13,  the  vanguard  of  the  British  forces 
scaled  the  almost  impassable  cliffs  that  formed  the 
great  protection  of  Quebec,  and  by  the  use  of  a  con- 

1  Worthington  C.  Ford's  British  Officers  Serving  in  America,  1754-1774. 

2  Horace  Walpole  to  the  Earl  of  Stratford,  Sept.  13,  1759. 


LAKE  CHAM  PLAIN  157 

venient  ravine  the  rest  of  the  troops,  with  two  small 
cannon,  soon  occupied  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  within 
a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  town.  There  the  drill  and 
discipline  of  the  British  regiments  won  the  day  for 
England:  five  days  later  Quebec  and  its  garrison 
surrendered.  The  capital  of  New  France  fell,  but 
not  without  costing  England  her  most  dashing  sol 
dier;  for  James  Wolfe,  like  his  adversary,  Montcalm, 
was  killed  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Even  though  one  has  difficulty  in  being  reconciled 
to  Amherst's  two  months  of  inaction  at  Crown  Point, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  a  more  aggressive  campaign  on 
his  part  would  have  been  of  greater  benefit  to  his 
colleague  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  mere  presence 
of  his  army  to  the  southward  drew  off  from  Quebec 
a  considerable  part  of  the  French  forces  which  other 
wise  would  have  made  Wolfe's  feat  impossible.  The 
nineteenth  century,  in  its  glorification  of  the  hero  of 
the  Plains  of  Abraham,  went  so  far  as  to  cast  asper 
sions  upon  Amherst  and  to  lament  his  "wasted  la 
bors"  on  Lake  Champlain;  but  his  contemporaries 
took  a  more  rational  view  and  realized  the  value  of 
his  army-in-being,  although  its  performances  were 
hardly  spectacular.  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  last 
royal  governor  of  Massachusetts  under  the  charter, 
possessed  the  mind  of  a  trained  historian,  and  his 
judgment  of  Amherst's  behavior  in  the  summer  of 
1759  is  both  enlightening  and  just:  "It  is  extremely 
probable,  that,  if  a  great  part  of  the  French  forces 
had  not  been  withdrawn  from  Quebec  to  attend  the 
motions  of  General  Amherst,  the  attempt  made  by 


158  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

General  Wolfe  must  have  failed."  l  Not  only  was 
Bourlamaque  with  thirty-five  hundred  men  kept  on 
tenter-hooks  of  uncertainty  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Champlain,  but  Levis,  the  second  in  command  at 
Quebec,  was  sent  up  the  St.  Lawrence  with  eight 
hundred  men  to  defend  Montreal  from  an  expected 
descent  by  the  British  from  Niagara  and  Oswego.2 
Thus  Amherst's  apparent  failure  to  co-operate  with 
Wolfe  was  in  reality  a  great  potential  aid  to  the 
latter's  brilliant  conquest  of  the  capital  of  New 
France. 

On  the  very  day  when  the  fate  of  an  empire  was 
decided  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  General  Amherst 
issued  orders  to  Major  Robert  Rogers  to  set  out  with 
two  hundred  rangers  to  punish  "the  enemy's  Indian 
scoundrels,"  particularly  the  Abenakis  of  St.  Francis. 
The  occasion  of  the  General's  wrath  against  this 
tribe  was  their  seizure  of  two  British  officers  bound 
for  Quebec,  who  came  to  St.  Francis  with  a  flag  of 
truce  and  a  message  of  peace,  which  Amherst  thought 
would  be  respected  by  the  savages.  The  captives 
were  sent  to  Montreal,  and  now  the  Indians  were  to 
suffer  for  their  loyalty  to  the  French.  In  his  in 
structions  to  Rogers,  Amherst  wrote:  "Take  your 
revenge,  but  don't  forget  that  though  those  villains 
have  dastardly  and  promiscuously  murdered  the 
women  and  children  of  all  ages,  it  is  my  orders  that 
no  women  or  children  are  killed  or  hurt."  For  the 

1  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts- Bay,  ii,  78. 

2  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  ii,  502.     Parkman's  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe,  ii,  260. 


LAKE  CHAM  PLAIN  159 

business  in  hand  the  General  made  a  judicious  se 
lection  when  he  chose  Major  Robert  Rogers  for  the 
leader.  He  was  a  New  Hampshire  man  of  thirty 
years  or  more,  renowned  for  his  self-reliance  and 
boldness.  Like  many  a  lover  of  adventure  he  pos 
sessed  a  character  less  splendid  than  his  physique, 
but  ever  since  his  appearance  at  Lake  George,  four 
years  before  this  time,  Rogers  had  been  the  terror  of 
the  French  and  of  the  Indians.  Under  his  command 
was  a  battalion  of  lynx-eyed  rangers,  who  harried, 
the  enemy  at  every  season  of  the  year  and  were  sure 
to  appear  when  least  expected,  on  skates,  on  snow- 
shoes,  or  in  gliding  birch-bark  canoes.1  The  present 
task  promised  hardship  and  excitement  in  plenty, 
and  Rogers  lost  no  time  in  starting  on  his  gory 
mission. 

The  St.  Francis  Indians  had  been  settled  for  about 
seventy-five  years  on  the  River  St.  Francis,  a  few 
miles  above  its  confluence  with  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Of  all  the  savage  allies  of  the  French  no  tribe  had 
harassed  and  terrified  the  New  England  frontier  as 
much  as  these  bloodthirsty  redskins:  their  unex 
pected  excursions  had  been  marked  by  burning  farm 
houses  and  murdered  pioneers,  men,  women,  and 
children;  in  six  years'  time  they  had  killed,  or  carried 
into  captivity,  four  hundred  people  from  the  border 
settlements.  Rogers  and  his  men  set  out  in  whale- 
boats,  and  after  successfully  eluding  the  French 
vessels,  landed  the  tenth  day  at  Missisquoi  Bay,  at 
the  north  end  of  Lake  Champlain.  Concealing  their 

1  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe^  i?  444-45, 


160  JEFFERY  AM H ERST 

boats  on  the  shore,  the  expedition  began  to  march 
towards  St.  Francis.  For  nine  days  they  struggled 
through  spruce  bogs  with  the  water  up  to  their  knees 
most  of  the  time;  finally  they  came  out  upon  better 
ground,  and  a  few  days  more  brought  them  within 
three  miles  of  the  Indian  town  which  Rogers  de 
scried  from  a  tree-top  at  sundown.  There  the  party 
halted  while  the  leader,  with  one  or  two  companions, 
reconnoitred.  They  found  the  Indians  yelling  and 
singing  "in  a  high  frolic,"  and  saw  hundreds  of 
English  scalps  dangling  from  poles  over  the  doors  of 
the  houses.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  Rogers 
returned  to  his  party,  and  at  three  marched  it  towards 
St.  Francis.  Where  pandemonium  had  reigned,  all 
was  quiet  now.  The  men  slipped  off  their  packs  and 
formed  in  a  semi-circle.  A  half  hour  before  sunrise 
the  blow  fell,  and  so  suddenly  that  hardly  a  warrior 
escaped.  Some  were  killed  in  their  beds,  others  were 
pursued  and  shot  down,  while  those  who  had  thought 
to  conceal  themselves  in  the  cellars  and  lofts  of  their 
houses  were  consumed  in  the  wholesale  conflagration 
that  followed  the  slaughter. 

So  far  the  expedition  had  been  an  unqualified 
success;  but  while  the  sky  was  still  red  with  the 
flickering  light  of  the  holocaust,  Nemesis  appeared 
in  the  shape  of  a  party  of  three  hundred  or  more 
French  and  Indians,  who  had  been  sent  to  cut  off 
the  retreat  of  the  intruders.  Rogers  knew  that  any 
attempt  to  regain  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain 
would  be  fatal:  there  was,  however,  one  possible 
means  of  escape,  —  to  traverse  the  wilderness  to  the 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  161 

headwaters  of  the  Connecticut  and  follow  the  course 
of  that  river  southward  to  Number  Four.  A  council 
of  war  adopted  the  latter  plan,  and  the  rangers  started 
on  their  two-hundred-mile  flight.  The  rest  of  the 
story  rivals  the  Ancient  Mariner  in  horror.1  For  a 
while  the  Frenchmen,  following  close  upon  their  heels 
and  picking  off  the  stragglers  one  by  one,  caused  them 
distress;  but  this  enemy  was  as  naught  compared 
with  the  tortures  of  starvation  that  marked  the  last 
days  of  their  journey.  Some  of  the  men  dropped 
from  exhaustion  and  perished  where  they  fell;  others 
kept  themselves  alive  by  subsisting  on  ground-nut 
and  lily  bulbs,  until  at  the  end  of  many  days  the 
welcome  sound  of  wood-cutting  told  them  that  at 
last  they  were  nearing  Number  Four.  There  they 
were  helped  into  the  fort  and  nursed  back  to  health 
and  strength. 

While  Major  Robert  Rogers  and  his  companions 
were  paying  dearly  for  the  havoc  they  had  wrought 
at  St.  Francis,  the  main  body  of  the  army  at  Crown 
Point  finally  bestirred  itself.  About  the  tenth  of 
October  the  little  navy  came  down  from  the  yards  at 
Ticonderoga:  it  consisted  of  a  sloop,  the  "Bos- 
cawen,"  a  brigantine,  the  "Duke  of  Cumberland,'* 
and  a  radeau  which  the  provincials  dubbed  "the 
floating  castle."2  On  the  afternoon  of  October  n, 
this  squadron,  followed  by  the  regulars  in  four  col 
umns  of  whaleboats,  set  out  down  the  lake  with  fine 
weather  and  a  fair  breeze,  while  the  provincials  were 

1  Journals  of  Major  Robert  Rogers,  pp.  141-149. 
3  Niles'  French  and  Indian  Wars,  p.  523. 


162  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

left  behind  to  work  on  the  fort.  That  night  the  troops 
spent  on  the  water,  and  at  daybreak  some  of  the  ba 
teaux,  having  followed  a  misleading  light,  found  them 
selves  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  sloops.  In  the 
ensuing  skirmish  the  French  captured  a  boatload  of 
men,  and  then  sailed  away  at  top  speed.  The  rest 
of  the  regulars,  preceded  by  the  protecting  radeau, 
continued  on  their  way  down  the  lake  until  afternoon 
when  the  wind  began  to  blow  hard  from  the  north 
west.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of  Lake  Champlain 
is  its  susceptibility  to  wind.  On  that  sheet  of  water 
the  waves  raised  by  a  breeze  of  no  great  force  are 
quite  out  of  proportion  to  the  velocity  of  the  air,  a 
strange  phenomenon  which  Amherst  was  soon  to 
encounter.  Towards  sundown  it  became  evident  that 
the  boats  must  seek  shelter  or  sink.  On  the  western 
shore  a  well  protected  bay  promised  a  good  haven  and 
thither  the  General  directed  the  men  to  row.  There 
the  windy  night  was  passed  in  comparative  comfort, 
but  the  following  day  found  the  lake  noisy  and  angry 
with  white  caps  racing  by  from  the  north;  the  pines 
on  the  shore  of  Ligonier  Bay,  as  Amherst  named  the 
sheltering  inlet,1  swished  and  roared  in  the  autumnal 
gale,  and  all  thought  of  going  upon  the  water  was 
abandoned.  The  high  winds  continued  for  five  days, 
but  during  that  time  the  brig  and  the  sloop  were 
busy  on  the  lake.  First  they  pursued  the  enemy's 
schooner  until  both  British  vessels  ran  aground. 
Recovering  from  this  humiliating  occurrence,  they 
spied  three  French  sloops  and  started  after  them  at 

1  Now  called  Willsboro  Bay. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  163 

once.  Up  and  down  the  lake  the  chase  continued 
until  the  Frenchmen,  refusing  an  action,  were  block 
aded  in  a  bay  on  the  western  shore,  near  the  present 
town  of  Plattsburg.1  Night  came  on  while  the  Brit 
ish  were  at  anchor  off  the  entrance.  In  the  morning 
they  discovered  that  the  enemy,  in  despair,  had  sunk 
two  of  their  own  vessels,  while  the  third  had  been 
run  aground,  in  order  that  the  crews  might  escape 
through  the  woods  to  Isle  aux  Noix. 

On  the  night  of  the  fourteenth  a  rainstorm  added 
to  the  gaiety  of  the  elements.  When  that  tempest 
cleared,  a  cold  wave  congealed  the  shivering  army, 
causing  Amherst  to  wonder  if  the  season  were  not 
too  far  advanced  for  further  operations.  Midstream 
in  the  outlet  at  the  northern  end  of  the  lake,  Bour- 
lamaque  lay  intrenched  to  the  teeth,  with  thirty-five 
hundred  men  and  one  hundred  cannon.  On  each 
side  of  Isle  aux  Noix,  a  cbtvaux-de-frise  closed  the 
Richelieu  River  to  the  British  ships.  Furthermore, 
the  largest  French  vessel  was  still  to  be  accounted 
for. 

A  gentle  southerly  breeze,  however,  restored  the 
General's  confidence  temporarily,  and  ordering  his 
men  to  re-embark,  Amherst  went  down  the  lake  to 
the  place  where  the  enemy's  sloops  were  captured. 
There  he  received  a  letter  from  New  York  telling  of 
the  fall  of  Quebec.  This  news,  combined  with  a 
north  wind  and  "an  appearance  of  winter,"  deter 
mined  the  course  of  operations.  The  conquest  of 
Isle  aux  Noix  must  wait  until  another  campaign. 
1  Cumberland  Bay. 


164  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Turning  their  course  southward,  the  men  returned 
to  Ligonier  Bay,  and  thence  to  Crown  Point,  where 
the  army  reunited  on  the  afternoon  of  October  21. 
Once  again  on  familiar  ground,  Amherst  found  the 
new  fort  almost  finished  and  Ticonderoga  entirely 
restored.  These  were  the  monuments  of  his  cam 
paign. 

"When  chill  November's  chilly  blast  made  fields 
and  forests  bare,"  some  of  the  provincials  from  Massa 
chusetts  and  New  Jersey  decided  that  it  was  time  they 
were  disbanded  and  allowed  to  return  to  their  homes. 
The  result  was  a  small  mutiny  on  the  first  day  of 
the  month;  but  Amherst  detailed  a  few  regulars  to 
restore  discipline  and  the  matter  was  soon  settled. 
Towards  the  middle  of  November  one  American  regi 
ment  after  another  was  started  on  its  homeward 
way,  those  from  New  England  following  the  new 
road  to  Number  Four,  which  greatly  lessened  the 
distance  and  expense  of  their  march.  The  weather 
grew  more  and  more  severe,  until  the  leaf-strewn 
ground  was  white  with  snow,  and  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  the  Commander-in-Chief  broke  camp.  Leaving 
a  garrison  of  six  companies  at  Ticonderoga,  the  di 
minished  army  started  on  its  march  for  New  York. 
The  first  night  was  spent  in  the  woods  between  Lake 
Champlain  and  Lake  George,  where  the  soldiers  made 
good  fires,  —  and  wisely  so,  for  before  morning  sev 
eral  inches  of  snow  had  fallen.  Another  day  or  two 
brought  them  to  the  newly  constructed  Fort  George, 
which  Amherst  inspected  and  declared  satisfactory.1 

1  Montrfsor's  Journals,  p.  108. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  165 

Four  companies  were  left  to  hold  this  post  during  the 
winter,  while  the  rest  of  the  troops  continued  their 
way  south,  seeking  sheltered  spots  in  the  woods  at 
night,  and  sleeping  in  clusters  around  the  campfires, 
for  it  was  not  considered  worth  while  to  pitch  tents 
for  such  short  encampments. 

At  Albany,  Amherst  met  Sir  William  Johnson,  the 
recent  hero  of  the  Niagara  expedition,  and  congratu 
lated  him  upon  his  victory.  During  his  three  days' 
stay  in  town  the  Hudson  froze  over,  which  was  an 
noying  because  the  General  had  embarked  his  men 
upon  vessels  in  the  river,  expecting  them  to  go  to 
New  York  by  water.  As  the  cold  weather  contin 
ued,  however,  he  ordered  the  regiments  off  the  ships 
and  started  them  on  the  road  for  the  metropolis.  A 
day  or  two  later,  the  fifth  of  December,  Amherst 
left  Brigadier  Gage  to  command  at  Albany  and 
crossed  the  Hudson  on  the  ice.  From  there  to  New 
York  he  travelled  on  foot,  making  a  very  favorable 
impression  upon  the  colonists  and  setting  a  good 
example  for  the  soldiers.1  After  walking  six  days, 
the  Commander-in-Chief  arrived  at  his  quarters  on 
Manhattan  Island  and  settled  down  for  a  well-earned 
winter's  rest. 

Among  the  indirect  results  of  the  campaign  was  a 
short-lived  and  comparatively  unknown  fourteenth 
colony,  which  came  into  being  in  the  following  man 
ner.  Major  Philip  Skene  was  one  of  the  many  Brit 
ish  officers  who  were  attracted  by  the  remarkable 
fertility  and  beauty  of  the  country  around  Crown 

1  Bonney's  Legacy  of  Historical  Gleanings,  i,  33. 


166  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Point.  Like  Amherst,  he  had  fought  at  Fontenoy 
and  Laffeldt  in  the  previous  war,  and  in  the  present 
conflict  he  had  been  with  Lord  Howe  in  the  earlier 
campaign  against  Ticonderoga.1  During  the  recent 
summer  of  inaction  on  Lake  Champlain,  Skene's 
thoughts  turned  to  the  creation  of  a  great  estate  in 
the  wilderness,  and  early  in  November  he  asked 
Amherst  for  a  grant  which  should  lie  "between  South 
Bay,  East  Bay  and  the  garrison-land  of  Fort  Ed 
ward."  This  was  no  modest  request,  but  Skene  en 
joyed  the  General's  favor  and  through  his  influence 
might  gain  what  he  desired.  As  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  had  no  direct  authority  to  distribute  land 
which  properly  belonged  to  the  Crown  or  to  the  col 
onies,  Skene  was  advised  to  present  a  petition  to  the 
Secretary  of  State.  He  did  so,  and,  confident  of 
success,  settled  "a  number  of  poor  families  and  some 
servants"  on  his  intended  domain.2  Then  from  Eng 
land  came  a  temporary  refusal  of  the  application, 
which  was  due  to  the  diffidence  of  the  Lords  of  Trade 
about  handling  the  matter  until  they  were  possessed 
of  more  definite  knowledge  concerning  the  location 
and  jurisdiction  of  the  proposed  settlement.  Before 
the  desired  information  was  given  and  the  terms  of 
cultivation  elucidated,  duty  called  the  Major  to  the 
West  Indies  on  the  expeditions  against  Martinique 
and  Havana.  Returning  from  the  South,  he  brought 
with  him  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  prospective 
soldier-settlers,  only  to  find  that  he  had  no  land  which 

1  Gentle man's  Magazine,  Ixxx,  672. 

*  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documtnts,  vii,  615. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  167 

he  could  legally  assign  to  their  use;  indeed,  that 
which  he  had  already  improved  had  been  regranted 
over  his  head.  This  was  discouraging,  but  Skene 
was  determined  to  be  a  great  landlord  and  crossed 
the  ocean  to  present  his  case  in  person  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade. 

In  England  Major  Skene's  arguments  carried  such 
conviction  that  in  May,  1764,  he  was  granted  twenty 
thousand  acres,  about  thirty  square  miles.1  As  his 
regiment  was  one  of  those  stationed  in  America  after 
the  war,  the  arrangement  was  a  happy  one,  and  the 
newly  created  proprietor  entered  enthusiastically  into 
the  development  of  his  estate.  In  1769  he  retired 
from  the  army.  The  next  year  saw  him  established 
at  Skenesborough,  now  Whitehall,  New  York,  which 
is  pleasantly  situated  at  the  head  of  the  South  Bay 
of  Lake  Champlain.  There  he  set  up  forges  for 
smelting  iron,  as  well  as  a  number  of  sawmills,  and 
opened  a  road  to  Salem  and  Bennington  to  encourage 
the  flow  of  colonization  in  his  direction.2  In  the 
meantime  an  interprovincial  war  was  being  waged 
between  New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  each  claim 
ing  title  to  the  land  west  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
New  Hampshire  grants  were  superimposed  upon 
those  of  New  York,  and  vice  versa,  until  it  became 
evident  that  only  might  would  make  right.  As 
Skene  had  almost  lost  his  domain  through  the  inter 
ference  of  the  government  of  New  York,  he  threw  in 
his  lot  with  the  ultra-radical  New  Hampshire  party, 

1  Afts  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  vol.  iv,  p.  817. 

1  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society's  Transactions,  vol.  viii,  p.  967. 


168  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

and  for  a  time  was  hand  in  glove  with  the  renowned 
Ethan  Allen.  In  1774,  Skene,  Allen,  and  a  few  other 
principal  characters  contrived  a  scheme  to  get  rid 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  both  contesting  governments 
by  having  a  new  royal  colony  established.  This 
should  contain  "the  New  Hampshire  Grants"  west 
of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  also  most  of  the  pres 
ent  State  of  New  York  north  of  the  Mohawk.  If 
the  influential  Major  could  induce  the  home  govern 
ment  to  solve  the  problem  in  this  way,  he  might  be 
appointed  governor  of  the  new  province  with  his 
capital  at  Skenesborough.  The  idea  appealed  to 
Skene  who  once  more  sailed  for  England  to  solicit 
the  accomplishment  of  the  new  project.1  To  a  cer 
tain  extent  the  enterprise  succeeded.  Lord  Dart 
mouth,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  smiled 
upon  the  ingenious  proposition  and  appointed  Major 
Skene  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Crown  Point  and 
Ticonderoga,  for  which  favor  the  latter  was  duly 
grateful.2  But  there  the  matter  was  brought  to  an 
abrupt  close  by  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,  which  temporarily  placed  in  abeyance  the 
intercolonial  dispute  and  its  possible  solution.  Pre 
cisely  how  far  the  British  government  would  have 
gone  —  or  actually  went  —  in  the  prosecution  of 
Skene's  ambitious  plan  one  cannot  say.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  the  Continental  Congress  considered 

1  Ira  Allen's  History  of  Vermont,  in  the  Vermont  Historical  Society's 
Collections,  Vol.  i. 

8  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Fourteenth  Report,  Appendix, 
Part  10,  p.  269. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  169 

him  a  dangerous  partizan  of  the  administration,  and 
by  providing  for  his  imprisonment  as  soon  as  he 
arrived  in  America,1  put  an  end  to  the  proposed 
colony  that  grew  out  of  Amherst's  campaign  in 
northern  New  York  in  the  summer  of  1759. 

1  Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  June  8  and  June  27,  1775. 


CHAPTER  IX 

MONTREAL 

AS  the  spring  of  1760  approached,  the  soldiers 
at  New  York  began  to  speculate  upon  the 
plan  of  campaign  for  the  coming  season; 
none,  however,  could  have  been  at  a  great  loss  to 
guess  Amherst's  objective,  for  Montreal  still  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  French,  and  thither  the  capital 
of  New  France  had  been  transferred  when  Quebec 
surrendered  to  the  English.  Although  Pitt  had 
stipulated  that  this  achievement  was  the  "great  and 
essential  object  remaining  to  complete  the  glory  of 
His  Majesty's  arms  in  that  part  of  the  world,"  Am- 
herst  awaited  specific  instructions.  He  expected  that 
these  would  arrive  with  his  brother,  the  much-trav 
elled  William,  who  was  returning  from  his  second 
mission  of  bearing  good  news  across  the  water.  In 
the  meantime  the  General  exhorted  the  colonial 
assemblies  to  co-operate  with  him  in  the  conquest  of 
Canada  by  providing  as  many  provincial  troops  as 
in  the  previous  year.  The  governors  did  their  best 
but  the  colonists,  overjoyed  at  the  victories  of  1759, 
now  regarded  an  early  peace  with  France  as  a  fore 
gone  conclusion.  Indeed,  there  were  rumors  afloat 
that  hostilities  might  cease  at  any  time.  Under  the 
circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that,  although  the 


MONTREAL  171 

assemblies  voted  approximately  the  same  number  of 
troops,  only  four-fifths  of  the  promised  twenty 
thousand  adlually  took  the  field,  and  these  did  so 
with  such  deliberation  that  Amherst's  movements 
were  much  delayed.1 

Pitt's  instructions  for  the  present  campaign  arrived 
unexpectedly  at  headquarters  towards  the  end  of 
February,  eight  weeks  before  William  Amherst  re 
turned  to  the  New  World.  The  orders  were  flatter 
ing  rather  than  specific.  The  object  of  the  campaign 
was  the  capture  of  Montreal,  but  how  this  was  to  be 
accomplished  was  left  entirely  to  the  General's  judg 
ment.  He  might  invade  Canada  in  one  body,  or  he 
might  divide  his  forces  into  separate  and  distinct 
armies,  whichever  method  he  deemed  the  more  ex 
pedient.  The  latter  alternative  appealed  to  Am 
herst  in  spite  of  its  patent  difficulties,  and  he  decided 
to  overwhelm  Montreal  with  three  expeditions  acting 
simultaneously  from  east,  south,  and  west.  While 
Murray,  who  was  in  command  at  Quebec,  ascended 
the  St.  Lawrence,  Colonel  Haviland  should  carry  the 
operations  of  the  previous  season  to  their  logical 
conclusion  by  driving  the  enemy  from  the  northern 
end  of  Lake  Champlain.  The  third  part  of  the 
program  was  to  be  conducted  by  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  who  would  lead  the  main  army  to  Oswego, 
and  thence  eastward  down  Lake  Ontario  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  Montreal.  The  first  would  block 
the  enemy's  avenue  of  escape  down  the  river;  the 
second  would  dispose  of  the  garrison  at  the  Isle  au 

1  George  Louis  Beer's  British  Colonial  Policy,  p.  65. 


172  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Noix;  while  Amherst's  circuitous  route  was  calcu 
lated  to  prevent  the  French  from  retreating  inland  to 
Detroit  and  the  western  posts.  Obviously  the  pro 
posed  arrangement  was  full  of  dangers.  Each  de 
tachment  would  be  isolated  from  the  other  two  until 
the  rendezvous  was  reached,  and  if  separately  at 
tacked  might  be  overpowered  by  the  enemy.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  all  went  well,  the  campaign  would 
be  one  of  the  prettiest  pieces  of  military  co-operation 
imaginable.  Amherst  counted  the  cost  and  was  con 
fident  of  success.  The  old  boats  were  repaired,  new 
ones  were  built,  and  artillery  and  stores  were  brought 
around  from  Boston.  On  the  second  day  of  May  the 
Commander-in-Chief  set  out  for  Albany,  the  accus 
tomed  assembling  place  of  regulars  and  provin 
cials. 

As  usual,  the  American  troops  were  tardy  in  reach 
ing  the  appointed  ground,  but  Amherst  made  good 
use  of  the  time  by  forwarding  provisions  and  stores 
to  Crown  Point  and  Oswego,  to  facilitate  the  prog 
ress  of  the  expeditions  when  once  in  motion.  He 
also  conferred  with  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  prom 
ised  him  a  goodly  supply  of  Indians,  as  in  the  pre 
vious  year.  By  the  middle  of  May,  only  a  dozen 
companies  of  Massachusetts  troops,  a  handful  of 
men  from  Rhode  Island,  and  a  fraction  of  the  New 
York  quota  had  turned  up  at  Albany,  and  Am 
herst  was  beginning  to  fume  about  "the  sloth  of  the 
colonies,"  when  disturbing  news  from  Quebec  gave 
him  graver  grounds  for  concern. 

Brigadier   Murray   had    been   left   in   command   of 


MONTREAL  173 

the  erstwhile  capital  of  New  France,  and  his  garri 
son  had  passed  a  comparatively  comfortable  winter, 
which  they  made  more  or  less  interesting  by  indulging 
in  petty  warfare  with  the  bush-rangers  and  Indians  of 
the  surrounding  country.  Scurvy,  fever,  and  dysen 
tery,  however,  had  reduced  the  original  number  of 
seven  thousand  by  one-half,  and  in  the  following  April 
there  were  scarcely  more  than  three  thousand  British 
soldiers  fit  for  duty  in  Quebec.  Hundreds  had  been 
buried  in  the  snow-drifts,  which  furnished  temporary 
graves  until  the  frozen  ground  should  relax  under 
the  influence  of  a  spring  sun.  Meanwhile  the  French 
at  Montreal,  —  particularly  Vaudreuil,  the  Governor 
of  New  France, —  kept  a  vigilant  eye  upon  the  state  of 
affairs  in  the  English  garrison,  and  Levis,  who  had 
succeeded  Montcalm  as  military  head  of  the  colony, 
determined  to  fall  upon  the  weakened  enemy,  and 
recover  Quebec  for  Louis  XV.  Some  faint-hearts 
scoffed  at  the  enterprise,  calling  it  " Levis'  folly "; 
but  secret  preparations  went  on  apace  until  the 
commander  had  eight  or  nine  thousand  men  ready  to 
march  down  the  river. 

On  the  twentieth  of  April,  the  expedition  of  recon- 
quest  set  out  for  the  scene  of  action.  The  English 
abandoned  their  outpost  at  Old  Lorette  and  fell 
back  to  Sainte-Foy,  where  their  position  was  stronger. 
As  soon  as  Murray  realized  the  seriousness  of  the 
present  attack,  he  called  in  his  men  from  the  various 
outlying  districts  and  weighed  the  relative  dangers 
of  a  siege  and  of  a  pitched  battle.  In  view  of  the 
dubious  condition  of  the  town-walls,  the  latter  choice 


174  JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

seemed  the  more  advisable,  and  a  lively  battle  took 
place;  but  after  two  hours*  fighting  against  double 
their  number,  the  British  were  forced  to  retire  within 
the  fortifications  of  Quebec.  Then  indeed  was  there 
great  danger  of  losing  what  Wolfe  had  so  gallantly 
won.  Every  man  worked  to  the  utmost  of  his 
strength  to  put  the  place  in  a  state  of  defence  against 
its  late  owners,  and  it  was  at  this  critical  juncture 
that  Murray  wrote  to  Amherst,  imploring  him  to 
send  relief  to  the  besieged  garrison  on  the  St.  Law 
rence.  The  Commander-in-Chief  did  so  by  ordering 
reinforcements  up  the  river  from  Louisburg,1  although 
there  was  little  hope  of  their  arriving  at  Quebec  in 
time  to  rescue  Murray  and  his  fellow-sufferers.  In 
the  meantime  the  English  poured  forth  such  a  furious 
fire  from  the  walls  of  the  town  that  the  month  of 
May  was  well  advanced  before  Levis  could  plant  his 
artillery  and  start  an  active  siege.  The  enemy's 
great  dependence  was  upon  a  ship  which  they  had 
asked  to  have  sent  thither  with  munitions  and  heavy 
guns.  The  arrival  of  this  vessel  would  seal  the  fate 
of  the  British,  and  Murray  knew  it;  on  the  other 
hand  the  appearance  of  an  English  ship-of-war  would 
frustrate  the  attempted  reconquest  of  Quebec.  Food 
became  bad  and  scarce,  and  the  men  were  worn  out 
with  excessive  labor.  When,  therefore,  on  the  ninth 
of  May  a  sail  appeared  far  down  the  river,  every 
eye  was  strained  to  discover  its  nationality.  Finally, 
her  colors  were  unfurled,  and  at  the  sight  of  the  red 
cross  of  St.  George  the  garrison  went  fairly  mad 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  288. 


MONTREAL  175 

with  relief  and  joy.  Levis  did  not  yet  give  up  hope; 
but  when  the  welcome  "  Lowes toffe"  was  followed  by 
more  representatives  of  the  British  navy,  the  game 
was  up.  The  English  ships  passed  the  town  and 
demoralized  the  enemy's  squadron  with  little  diffi 
culty.  The  reconquest  of  Quebec  was  then  out  of 
the  question,  and  the  Frenchmen  made  all  speed  to 
return  to  their  proper  task,  the  defence  of  Mon 
treal. 

At  Albany,  life  was  far  less  exciting.  June  was 
more  than  half  gone  before  all  the  provincial  troops 
had  straggled  into  camp.  Amherst  divided  their 
number  between  his  own  expedition  and  that  which 
was  to  operate  under  Haviland,  the  General  appro 
priating  the  men  from  Connecticut,  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  while  the  provincials  from  Rhode  Island 
and  Northern  New  England  were  sent  to  Crown 
Point.  Having  made  this  apportionment,  he  gave 
orders  for  the  troops  under  his  immediate  command  to 
proceed  to  Oswego  as  soon  as  possible,  while  he  went 
on  ahead  to  that  secondary  rendezvous.  Oswego, 
it  will  be  remembered,  stood  on  the  southeastern 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  having  been  extensively 
fortified  by  the  British  in  1759,  was  now  one  of 
the  most  defensible  places  in  America.1  Upon  his 
arrival  there,  early  in  July,  the  Commander-in-Chief 
learned  that  two  French  vessels  had  been  hovering  off 
the  settlement.  As  this  performance  was  repeated, 
he  reported  their  presence  to  the  naval  commander 
at  Niagara,  who  responded  by  sending  over  two 

1  London  Magazine,  vol.  28,  pp.  626-627. 


176  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

ships,  the  "Onondaga"  and  the  "Mohawk,"  which 
were  immediately  ordered  to  sail  in  quest  of  the 
enemy. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  month,  Sir  William 
Johnson,  true  to  his  word,  appeared  at  Oswego, 
bringing  with  him  the  greatest  number  of  Indians 
that  had  yet  flocked  to  the  English  standard.  Of 
the  thirteen  hundred  redskins,  however,  only  about 
one-half  were  warriors,  and  as  Amherst  was  disgusted 
to  be  obliged  to  feed  their  women  and  children,1 
the  latter  were  soon  encouraged  to  depart  for  their 
wilderness  homes.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  this 
savage  host,  the  regular  and  provincial  regiments, 
delayed  no  doubt  by  the  "rainy,  vile,  and  uncomfort 
able  season,"  began  to  drift  into  camp:2  by  the 
ninth  of  the  month  all  were  present  or  accounted 
for.  At  dawn  of  the  following  day,  Amherst  em 
barked  with  the  regulars  upon  Lake  Ontario,  leaving 
Gage  to  bring  up  the  provincials  in  the  rear  as  soon 
as  there  were  enough  bateaux.  Down  the  lake  and 
into  the  St.  Lawrence  the  whole  flotilla  steered  its 
course.  Before  long  they  passed  the  two  British 
ships,  which  the  General  had  sent  out  to  pursue  the 
elusive  French  vessels,  and  came  to  rest  at  Ogdens- 
burg. 

This  progress,  remarkable  for  its  celerity,  was 
interrupted  on  the  morning  of  August  17  by  a  spirited 
encounter  with  the  enemy's  one  remaining  vessel,  — 

1  Aspintuall  Papers  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Colleftions, 
Fourth  Series,  ix,  292-293. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  300. 


MONTREAL  177 

the  other  having  run  aground.  As  the  two  British 
ships-of-war,  the  "Onondaga"  and  the  "Mohawk," 
had  lost  their  way  in  the  labyrinth  of  the  Thousand 
Islands,  the  capture  of  the  Frenchman  devolved 
upon  the  infantry  in  the  "row-galleys."  Fortunately, 
there  was  little  or  no  wind  and  the  enemy's  vessel 
tried  in  vain  to  slip  by  the  English  and  to  sail  up  the 
river  to  the  lake.  The  attacking  party  fired  over  one 
hundred  rounds  to  which  the  French  ship  replied 
with  zest,  —  but  by  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  her 
Bourbon  colors  came  down.1  Amherst  then  took 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  southern  shore  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswegatchie  River, 
where  there  had  been  an  Indian  settlement,  watched 
over  by  a  French  blockhouse,  both  of  which  were 
now  abandoned. 

About  four  or  five  miles  farther  down  the  river, 
upon  an  island  in  mid-stream,  stood  Fort  Levis, 
which  was  reported  to  be  a  strong  post.  Its  com 
mander  was  Pouchot,  the  same  gallant  Frenchman 
who,  in  the  previous  year,  had  held  Niagara  as  long 
as  there  existed  the  slightest  possibility  of  its  relief. 
After  the  surrender  of  that  fortress  he  had  been 
exchanged,  and  he  now  prepared  to  face  a  less  hope 
ful  siege.  It  would  have  been  quite  possible  for 
Amherst  to  run  by  the  batteries  of  Fort  Levis,  with 
out  taking  time  to  invest  and  capture  it,  but  he 
had  two  reasons  for  not  doing  this.  One  was  his 
characteristic  thoroughness;  the  other,  the  possi 
bility  of  finding  in  its  garrison  pilots  to  guide  his 

1  Aspinwall  Papers,  p.  307. 


178  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

boats  through  the  dangerous  rapids  which  lay  between 
the  English  army  and  Montreal. 

After  reconnoitering  both  shores  and  seizing  the 
islands  below  Fort  Levis,  Amherst  invested  the 
rocky  islet  on  all  sides  so  that  none  of  its  garrison 
might  escape.  In  the  meantime  Pouchot's  resist 
ance  was  by  no  means  passive.  While  the  British 
were  circumnavigating  the  fort,  they  were  treated  to 
a  smart  cannonade,  which  sunk  one  of  their  boats, 
killed  two  men  in  another,  and  injured  several.  This 
ticklish  operation  consumed  many  hours,  and  it  was 
eleven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  August  18  before  the 
island  was  entirely  surrounded.  The  next  two  days 
were  spent  in  planting  batteries  and  in  bringing  up 
the  delinquent  ships-of-war,  whose  strength  was  now 
supplemented  by  the  "Ottawa,"  the  vessel  recently 
captured  from  the  enemy.  On  the  twenty-third, 
Amherst  opened  fire  from  every  side.  The  fortress 
was  raked  fore  and  aft;  its  log  walls  were  shivered 
and  splintered  by  the  furious  cannonade,  but  Pouchot 
lived  up  to  his  well  deserved  reputation  for  bravery. 
Although,  one  by  one,  the  enemy's  guns  were  dis 
mounted  the  obstinate  commander  held  out  for  three 
days.  Finally,  on  the  afternoon  of  August  25,  the 
garrison  beat  a  parley  and  Amherst  received  a  letter 
from  his  adversary.  The  British  general  never  wasted 
much  time  in  haggling  over  terms  of  surrender:  on 
this  occasion  he  gave  his  victim  only  ten  minutes  in 
which  to  decide  to  give  up  his  fort  and  all  its  appur 
tenances  in  their  present  condition,  the  garrison  to 
be  prisoners  of  war.  Pouchot  yielded  at  once,  and 


MONTREAL  179 

soon  the  British  jack  was  hoisted  over  one  more  out 
post  of  France  in  America. 

Amherst's  Indian  allies  had  looked  forward  with 
eagerness  and  joy  to  the  reduction  of  Fort  Levis, 
an  event  which  they  never  doubted  would  be  followed 
by  a  massacre  of  the  garrison  such  as  had  marked 
the  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry  by  the  French 
three  years  before.  In  this  expectation  they  were 
grievously  disappointed,  however,  and  when  it  became 
evident  that  the  General  would  allow  no  violence  of 
any  kind  against  those  who  had  fallen  into  his  hands, 
three-quarters  of  his  savages  deserted  from  the  army 
and  returned  home  in  rage  and  disgust. 

Lingering  in  the  vicinity  of  his  most  recent  con 
quest,  which  was  renamed  Fort  William  Augustus 
in  honor  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  Amherst  em 
ployed  the  men  in  repairing  the  fort,  mending  the 
bateaux,  and  overhauling  the  larger  vessels.  The 
prospect  before  hirru  was  not  attractive.  Between 
his  present  camp  and  Montreal,  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  torn  with  a  series  of  dangerous  rapids  which 
might  spell  the  ruin  of  the  entire  campaign.  Pouchot 
took  especial  delight  in  painting  them  in  their  black 
est  colors  to  his  conqueror's  troubled  fancy,  and 
well-nigh  succeeded  in  disturbing  the  Englishman's 
renowned  equanimity.1  However,  the  original  plan 
must  be  executed  or  the  tripartite  concentration 
upon  Montreal  would  lack  its  most  important  factor. 
Already  Murray  with  his  forces  from  Quebec  was 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  rendezvous,  while  Havi- 

1  Pouchot's  Memoirs,  ii,  40. 


i8o  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

land,  having  driven  the  enemy  from  Isle  aux  Noix, 
was  fast  approaching  the  south  bank  of  the  St.  Law 
rence.  On  the  last  day  of  August,  Amherst  again 
put  the  army  in  motion  and  soon  had  his  first  experi 
ence  of  shooting  the  rapids,  which  he  found  "more 
frightful  than  dangerous."  While  most  of  the  men 
stayed  in  the  boats  in  passing  these  precarious  parts 
of  the  river,  the  General  was  careful  to  march  cov 
ering  parties  along  the  shore  lest  the  French  or  the 
Indians  should  add  to  the  excitement  of  the  occa 
sion  by  attacking  the  flotilla.  Fortunately  there  was 
no  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  On  the  con 
trary,  the  inhabitants  of  the  settlements  traversed 
by  the  army  were  overcome  by  the  sight  of  such  a 
host  and,  abandoning  their  houses,  rushed  into  the 
woods  as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them.  As 
Amherst  had  given  strict  orders  that  the  Canadians 
were  not  to  be  plundered  on  pain  of  death,  their 
panic-stricken  evacuation  was  unnecessary.1  When 
ever  it  was  possible,  the  General  sent  after  them, 
while  others  came  back  of  their  own  accord.  They 
were  disarmed,  and  after  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance 
were  repossessed  of  their  habitations  and  lands, 
much  to  their  surprise  and  happiness.2 

The  first  four  rapids  were  passed  with  compara 
tive  ease,  although  a  half-dozen  men  were  drowned  in 
the  turbulent  waters  before  Lake  St.  Francis  afforded 
temporary  relief  and  an  opportunity  to  repair  what 

1  Woodkull's  Journal  in  the  Historical  Magazine,  v,  259. 
3  Amherst  to  Governor  Wentworihy  Sept.   9,  1760   (MS.    in    the    Boston 
Public   Library). 


MONTREAL  181 

little  damage  had  been  done.  On  the  fourth  of 
September,  the  boats  pushed  out  into  the  stream 
once  more,  this  time  to  battle  with  the  most  danger 
ous  part  of  the  river,  the  rapids  known  as  the  Ce 
dars,  the  Buisson,  and  the  Cascades.  Here  Amherst's 
worst  fears  were  realized.  His  description  of  the 
river  as  being  "full  of  broken  waves,"  scarcely  does 
justice  to  the  tumultuous  rush  of  the  waters  as  they 
leap  half-angrily,  half-playfully  in  their  mad  dash 
over  the  rock-strewn  shoals.  Almost  fifty  boats  were 
lost  in  the  frightful  torrent,  several  more  were  staved 
on  the  rocks,  and  eighty-four  men  were  swept  down  to 
watery  graves.  At  length  when  the  last  of  the  rapids 
was  left  behind,  the  General  gave  the  army  a  day 
for  rest,  recuperation,  and  repairs  before  pressing 
on  to  Montreal. 

The  morning  of  September  6  was  favorable  for 
further  progress  down  the  river:  the  troops  re- 
embarked,  and  before  long  made  a  landing  without 
opposition  on  the  island  of  Montreal.  Some  flying 
parties  of  the  enemy  fired  a  few  shots  and  then  ran 
away,  leaving  Amherst  to  form  his  army  as  he  saw 
fit  on  a  plain  before  the  town.  At  that  very  mo 
ment  Brigadier  Murray  landed  to  the  eastward  of 
Montreal,  and  on  the  following  morning,  Colonel 
Haviland  and  his  victorious  forces,  fresh  from  their 
seizure  of  Isle  aux  Noix,  appeared  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Such  a  remarkable  fruition  of 
Amherst's  well-laid  plans  demanded  the  admiration 
of  both  friend  and  foe.  One  Frenchman  declared 
that  neither  more  beautiful  military  combinations  nor 


182  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

"so  many  troops  reunited  on  the  same  point  and  in 
the  same  instant  against  a  body  already  expiring" 
were  ever  seen.1  A  careful  historian  has  termed  it 
"one  of  the  most  perfect  and  astonishing  bits  of  work 
which  the  annals  of  British  warfare  can  show."2 

While  the  three  British  armies  were  concentrating 
within  sight  of  Montreal,  the  French  governor  called 
a  council  of  war  to  determine  what  should  be  done 
to  preserve  the  fast  fading  glory  of  New  France. 
Montreal  in  1760  was  a  thin  fringe  of  low  houses, 
some  of  wood  and  some  of  stone,  extending  from  east 
to  west  along  the  water-front,  while  here  and  there 
a  church  spire  broke  the  even  sky-line  of  the  town. 
The  whole  area  was  enclosed  by  a  moat  and  a  slight 
wall  of  masonry,  which  might  serve  as  a  defence 
against  Indian  attacks  but  could  avail  nothing 
against  a  cannonade.  Amherst  was  already  bringing 
up  his  artillery:  when  once  the  guns  were  in  position 
the  town  was  at  his  mercy.  The  enemy's  military 
force  numbered  a  scant  twenty-five  hundred  with 
which  to  oppose  the  seventeen  thousand  English 
troops  who  practically  surrounded  them.  Vaudreuil 
saw  but  one  course  to  pursue,  —  to  surrender.  His 
colleagues,  including  Levis,  who  had  so  recently  held 
Quebec  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  agreed  to  the  Gover 
nor's  proposition,  and  a  lengthy  capitulation,  contain 
ing  fifty-five  articles,  was  drawn  up.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  September  7  news  of  these  developments 
came  to  Amherst's  ears,  and  at  the  same  time 

1  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  x,  1121. 

2  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War,  ii,  117. 


MONTREAL  183 

he  received  a  naive  proposal  that  hostilities  be  sus 
pended  for  one  month.  The  General  laughed  at  such 
an  idea,  but  cheerfully  agreed  to  a  cessation  of  arms 
until  noon.1  About  twelve  o'clock  the  articles  of 
surrender  devised  by  the  French  authorities  came  in. 
Amherst  read  them  through  and  wrote  his  comments 
in  the  margin  of  the  document.  Most  of  the  terms 
he  accepted,  some  he  modified,  and  others  he  rejected.2 
Among  those  which  he  flatly  refused  to  grant  was  one 
stipulating  that  the  troops  should  march  out  with 
arms,  cannon,  and  the  honors  of  war.  On  the  con 
trary,  Amherst  dictated  that  the  whole  garrison  of 
Montreal  and  all  the  rest  of  the  troops  in  Canada 
should  lay  down  their  arms  and  not  serve  again  dur 
ing  the  present  war.  He  considered  that  the  enemy 
deserved  this  disgrace  because  of  "the  infamous  part 
the  troops  of  France  had  acted  in  exciting  the  sav 
ages  to  perpetrate  the  most  horrid  and  unheard-of 
barbarities  in  the  whole  progress  of  the  war."3 
When  the  draught  was  returned  Amherst  requested 
a  speedy  decision.  Vaudreuil  was  ready  to  surrender 
upon  these  terms  and  at  once,  but  the  military  pride 
of  Levis  could  not  submit  to  such  a  humiliating  capit 
ulation.  When  informed  of  Amherst's  change  in 
the  articles,  he  wrote  a  high-sounding  letter  to  Vaud 
reuil  insisting  that,  weak  and  defenceless  as  Montreal 
was,  it  would  be  better  to  break  off  negotiations 
at  once,  and  to  make  at  least  a  show  of  resist- 

1  Levis'  Journal  des  Campagnes,  p.  304. 

2  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  x,  1107-1120. 
s  Knox's  Journal  ii,  418. 


1 84  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

ance  behind  the  walls  of  the  town.  If  the  Gover 
nor  should  not  see  fit  to  adl  upon  his  suggestion, 
Levis  and  his  troops  asked  permission  to  withdraw 
to  St.  Helen's  Island  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  where 
they  would  maintain  to  the  last  the  honor  of  Bour 
bon  arms.  When  Vaudreuil  declined  to  acT:  upon 
this  mock-heroic  proposal,  Levis  relieved  his  feelings 
by  ordering  his  men  to  burn  all  their  flags  in  order 
to  lessen  to  that  extent  the  victory  of  the  English.1 

In  the  meantime  Amherst's  patience  was  tried  by 
two  or  three  emissaries  who  came  out  of  Montreal 
to  plead  for  more  lenient  terms.  To  each  and  all 
of  them,  the  Englishman  turned  a  deaf  ear  and  in 
sisted  that  the  only  words  he  would  listen  to  were  — 
"Yes"  or  "No."2  When  it  became  clear  that  the 
English  general  was  resolute  in  maintaining  his  posi 
tion,  Vaudreuil  was  only  too  glad  to  sign  the  articles 
of  capitulation.  At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
September  8,  1760,  Montreal  was  surrendered,  and 
Canada  became  a  part  of  the  British  Empire.  By  that 
strange  identity  of  dates  which  is  conspicuous  through 
out  Amherst's  military  career,  the  day  of  this  glorious 
event  was  the  third  anniversary  of  the  Convention  of 
Kloster  Zeven,  a  capitulation,  it  will  be  remembered, 
whereby  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  forced  back  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Elbe  by  the  French,  was  obliged 
to  disband  his  forces. 

The  Commander-in-Chief  sent  Colonel  Haldimand 
to  take  possession  of  the  gates  of  the  captured  town. 

1  Levis'  Journal  des  Campagnes,  p.  308. 

*  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  x,  1105. 


MONTREAL  185 

On  the  next  day  the  French  battalions  laid  down 
their  arms;  but  when  the  British  officer  in  charge 
demanded  the  enemy's  flags,  he  was  told  that,  al 
though  each  regiment  had  brought  its  colors  from 
France,  they  had  found  them  troublesome  in  this 
woody  country,  and  therefore  had  destroyed  them.1 
After  both  Vaudreuil  and  Levis  had  affirmed  this  on 
their  parole  d'bonneur,  Amherst  accepted  their  ingen 
ious  evasion  of  the  truth;  but  we  have  the  word  of 
Levis  himself  that  the  flags  were  burned  in  a  moment 
of  petty  rage.2  Although  the  Gallic  conception  of 
honor  is  often  incomprehensible  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
mind,  the  Frenchman  certainly  proved  himself  a  poor 
loser  on  this  occasion.  Levis  would  neither  receive 
Amherst  nor  personally  pay  him  the  customary  civil 
ities,  maintaining  that  it  was  his  duty  to  show  his 
resentment  towards  the  relentless  conqueror,  and  that 
the  troops  ought  to  have  received  more  attention 
from  Vaudreuil  and  more  esteem  from  General  Am 
herst.3  Two  stands  of  British  colors,  captured  by 
Montcalm  at  Oswego  four  years  before,  were  restored 
to  their  original  owners,  but  these  were  the  only  flags 
surrendered. 

New  France  had  fallen,  and  New  England  was 
jubilant  with  thanksgiving  sermons  and  other  forms 
of  celebration.  Boston  indulged  in  a  parade,  fol 
lowed  by  a  dinner  in  Faneuil  Hall;  fireworks  leaped 
skyward,  and  Castle  William  roared  out  a  salute  of 

1  Knox's  Journal,  ii,  441. 

*  Levis'  Journal  des  Campagnes,  p.  308. 

1  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  x,  1123. 


i86  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

sixty-three  guns.1  The  inland  towns  followed  suit. 
On  the  evening  of  October  9,  the  people  of  Worces 
ter  illuminated  their  houses,  and  the  windows  of 
Sheriff  Chandler's  mansion,  where  Amherst  had  been 
a  guest  in  the  autumn  of  1758,  shone  with  a  partic 
ular  brilliance.2  Meanwhile  the  good  news  was  on 
its  way  to  England.  Upon  its  receipt  Pitt  was  un 
restrained  in  his  congratulations  and  expressions  of 
approval,  while  the  King  gave  each  of  the  messen 
gers  five  hundred  pounds  as  a  souvenir  of  their  happy 
mission.  Horace  Walpole,  coming  up  to  London  by 
accident  one  day  in  Odlober,  found  the  place  alive 
with  bonfires  and  squibs,  and  everybody  drinking 
the  health  of  General  Amherst.  So  the  English- 
speaking  world  celebrated  the  final  event  which  added 
New  France  to  the  British  empire  and  relieved  the 
colonists  forever  of  all  fear  of  invasion  from  the 
north. 

Amherst  had  proved  himself  "the  greatest  military 
administrator  produced  by  England  since  the  death 
of  Marlborough,  and  he  remained  the  greatest  until 
the  rise  of  Wellington":  3  he  was  hardly  less  remark 
able  as  an  organizer  of  the  conquered  province  that 
lay  at  his  feet.  His  labors  in  the  second  capacity 
were  made  difficult  by  three  factors,  the  religion  of 
the  Canadians,  the  feudal  system  that  had  domi 
nated  New  France,  and  the  French  law,  or  Coutume 
de  Paris,  according  to  which  the  inhabitants  were 

1  Boston  Post  Boy  and  Advertiser,  Sept.  29,  1760. 

2  Boston  News  Letter,  Od.  16,  1760. 

1  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  ii,  405. 


MONTREAL  187 

accustomed  to  settle  their  disputes.1  By  the  terms 
of  surrender,  Amherst  granted  that  "the  free  exer 
cise  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  religion" 
should  continue  to  flourish  as  it  had  under  the  old 
regime.2  He  also  signed  an  article  allowing  the  lords 
of  manors  to  enjoy  peaceable  possession  of  their 
goods  and  other  property;  but  their  judicial  author 
ity  was  not  mentioned  in  the  document.3  This  was 
a  significant  and  all-important  omission,  for  it  in 
augurated  the  breaking  down  of  feudalism  in  Canada. 
Many  an  Englishman  would  have  discarded  at  once 
the  civil  law,  which  had  prevailed  in  New  France 
since  its  foundation,  and  would  have  substituted  for 
it  the  Common  Law,  with  which  he  was  more  famil 
iar.  Here  again,  however,  the  Commander-in-Chief 
displayed  the  tacl  and  consideration  that  had  charac 
terized  all  his  deeds  in  America.  For  administra 
tive  purposes  he  divided  Canada  into  three  military 
districts  —  Montreal,  Three  Rivers,  and  Quebec  — 
coinciding  with  the  old  divisions  under  the  French 
rule,  and  placed  a  governor  over  each  of  them.  Local 
government  was  entrusted  to  Canadian  militia  cap 
tains,  who,  like  the  English  justices  of  the  peace  at 
that  time,  belonged  to  the  gentry.  Each  adjudi 
cated  the  cases  arising  in  his  parish,  and  thus  put  an 
end  to  the  judicial  authority  of  the  feudal  seigniors.4 
In  the  settlement  of  civil  differences  between  the 
inhabitants  the  Coutume  de  Paris  obtained,  while 

1  For  an  exact  analysis  of  the  code  of  law  under  the  old  regime  see  Renton 
and  Phillimore's  Colonial  Laws  and  Courts,  pp.  229-230. 

2  Article  XXVII.  »  Article  XXXVII. 
4  Munro's  Seigniorial  System  in  Canada,  p.  190. 


188  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

criminal  offences  were  dealt  with  according  to  martial 
law.1  This  hybrid  system  of  justice  was  calculated 
to  afford  the  new  subjects  of  the  British  Crown  the 
greatest  amount  of  satisfaction  consistent  with  a 
strong  government  and  a  proper  assertion  of  Eng 
land's  supremacy.  From  the  decisions  of  these  mag 
istrates  there  was  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  British 
officer  commanding  the  regular  troops  in  that  part 
of  the  district,  and  ultimately  to  the  governor.  This 
was  the  frame  of  government  set  up  by  Jeffery  Am- 
herst,  and  although  it  was  modified  in  detail  by  his 
lieutenants  to  suit  local  conditions,2  its  general  prin 
ciples  were  preserved  and  established  a  system  far 
happier  for  all  concerned  than  that  which  succeeded 
it  under  the  Royal  Proclamation  of  1763. 

The  Commander-in-Chief,  as  self-appointed  Gov 
ernor-General  of  Canada,  named  Brigadier  Gage 
Governor  of  Montreal,  and  Colonel  Burton,  of  Three 
Rivers,  while  Murray  returned  to  Quebec  to  take 
charge  of  the  government  there.  In  order  to  remove 
any  suspicions  which  the  Canadians  might  entertain, 
Amherst  even  went  so  far  as  to  conduct  his  official 
correspondence  with  these  deputies  in  French.3  All 
in  all,  the  treatment  of  the  vanquished  people  was 
thoroughly  successful.  The  habitants  settled  down 
under  their  new  masters  with  infinite  content,  and 
before  many  weeks  had  passed,  the  General  reported 

1  Kingsford's  History  of  Canada,  iv,  442. 

*  Garneau's  Histoire  du  Canada,  ii,  391-392;  Doutre  et  Lareau's  Le  Droit 
Civil  Canadien,  pp.  486-489;  Shortt  and  Doughty's  Documents  relating  to 
the  Constitutional  History  of  Canada,  7759-7797,  pp.  31-36. 

8  Royal  Society  of  Canada's  Proceedings,  1905,  Appendix  A,  xliv. 


MONTREAL  189 

to  Pitt  that  the  soldiers  and  the  Canadians  were 
fraternizing  on  the  best  of  terms.1 

From  a  military  standpoint  all  that  remained  to 
be  done  was  to  apply  the  finishing  touches  to  the 
conquest  of  Canada;  and  with  that  end  in  view  Ma 
jor  Rogers  was  ordered  to  Detroit  to  take  possession 
of  the  western  posts,  which,  although  included  in  the 
capitulation  of  Montreal,  still  remained  in  French 
hands.  Amherst  then  sent  off  the  New  England 
troops  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  season  in  completing 
the  forts  under  construction  at  Crown  Point,  at 
Oswego,  and  in  central  New  York,  while  the  soldiers 
from  the  Middle  Colonies  were  given  occupation  in 
the  St.  Lawrence  valley.  The  four  thousand  pris 
oners  of  war  were  shipped  to  sunny  France,  the 
Indians  were  given  various  trinkets  as  a  reward  for 
their  good  behavior  in  the  campaign,  and  finally 
the  General  found  himself  at  liberty  to  go  down  the 
river  to  inspect  the  newly  established  governments 
of  Three  Rivers  and  Quebec. 

Bidding  good-bye  to  Montreal  in  the  last  days  of 
September,  Amherst  went  first  to  Three  Rivers, 
where  he  spent  two  days.  At  St.  Maurice  he  found 
an  iron  mine  and  some  forges  which  had  been  worked 
by  the  Canadians  for  the  benefit  of  the  King  of 
France.  As  the  mine  seemed  to  be  profitable,  Am 
herst  kept  the  men  at  work  for  their  new  sovereign, 
and  continued  on  his  journey  to  Quebec.  On  the 
way  he  passed  most  of  the  transports  bearing  the 
French  troops  which  had  been  stopped  in  the  river 

1  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites'  France  in  America,  p.  265. 


190  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

by  contrary  winds.  Finding  everything  satisfactory 
at  Quebec,  the  Commander-in-Chief  turned  his  steps 
towards  Crown  Point  and  New  York.  At  Isle  aux 
Noix  he  viewed  the  fortress  which  had  checked  his 
advance  in  the  previous  year,  and  then  ordered  all 
the  works  there  to  be  destroyed.  As  the  mainte 
nance  of  this  post  would  be  an  unnecessary  expence 
to  the  British  and  its  abandonment  intact  might 
prove  a  danger,  the  measure  was  a  wise  one.  Louis- 
burg  had  already  suffered  the  same  ignominious  fate. 
Early  in  1760,  Pitt  had  decreed  that  all  its  defences 
and  fortifications  should  be  completely  demolished 
and  its  garrison  transferred  to  Halifax.  The  work 
of  annihilating  the  Dunkirk  of  America  was  no  small 
task,  but  in  December  Amherst  reported  to  his  chief 
that  the  renowned  Louishurg  was  no  more.1 

After  a  week  or  two  at  Crown  Point  where  the 
provincials  still  slaved  at  the  construction  of  a  pro 
digious  fortress,  the  General  proceeded  leisurely  on 
his  way  to  New  York  by  the  way  of  Albany.  His 
welcome  to  the  cosmopolitan  metropolis  befitted  the 
conqueror  of  New  France.  Early  in  the  autumn, 
Amherst  had  been  voted  the  freedom  of  the  city, 
and  Mr.  Nicholas  Roosevelt  was  directed  to  prepare 
a  gold  box  in  which  to  encase  the  document.  When 
the  General  reached  New  York  all  was  in  readiness  for 
his  reception.  On  November  27,  the  Mayor,  aldermen, 
and  assistants  waited  upon  "his  said  Excellency " 
and  presented  him  with  the  traditional  gold  box, 
the  cover  of  which  was  beautifully  engraved  with  a 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  361-362. 


MONTREAL  191 

Latin  inscription,  eulogizing  in  superlative  terms  the 
Domitor  Gallorum  Canadensium.  Besides  the  freedom 
of  the  city,  the  box  contained  an  enthusiastic  and  not 
altogether  unsuccessful  bit  of  rhetoric,  engrossed  on 
parchment.  This  recited  the  virtues,  as  well  as  the 
military  prowess,  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and 
in  the  following  words  assured  him  of  immortality 
in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people.1  "Minutely 
to  describe  the  innumerable  advantages  resulting 
from  so  signal  a  conquest  would  be  a  vain  attempt. 
Let  millions  yet  unborn  mark  the  distinguished  bless 
ings  as  they  rise,  and  while  they  reap  the  happy 
fruits  of  your  martial  virtues  they  will  not  cease  to 
bless  the  name  of  Amherst." 

1  New  York  Historical  Society's  Collections  for  1885,  pp.  522-528. 


CHAPTER  X 

SIR   JEFFERY   AMHERST,    KT. 

WHEN  Canada  fell,  the  American  theatre  of 
the  Seven  Years'  War  moved  southward 
to  the  West  Indies.  Amherst  had  ex- 
pecfled  that  the  French  forts  and  possessions  on  the 
Mobile  and  the  Mississippi  would  be  the  next  objec 
tive,  but  in  January,  1761,  Pitt  informed  him  that 
attacks  upon  the  islands  of  Dominica,  Santa  Lucia, 
and  Martinique  were  to  constitute  this  year's  pro 
gram,  and  that  eight  thousand  of  the  regulars  on  the 
American  continent  would  be  required  for  that  pur 
pose.  The  selection  of  a  commander  for  the  expedi 
tion  was  left  to  Amherst.  In  order  to  retain  a  secure 
hold  upon  England's  conquests  already  accomplished 
in  the  New  World,  the  colonies  were  asked  to  supply 
two-thirds  as  many  troops  as  in  the  previous  year. 
These  provincials  were  to  garrison  the  various  Cana 
dian  and  frontier  posts  and  so  release  the  regulars  for 
active  service  in  the  West  Indies.1  As  the  colonial 
axe  was  already  ground  and  there  was  no  longer  any 
apprehension  of  an  invasion  from  Canada,  the  assem 
blies  made  only  a  half-hearted  response  to  the  requi 
sition:  about  ten  thousand  men  were  voted,  but  of 
this  number  less  than  nine  thousand  ever  appeared 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  366. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,  KT.      193 

on  the  muster-fields.1  Pitt  probably  foresaw  this 
falling-off,  and  remembering  the  usual  tardiness  of 
the  provincial  troops  at  the  rendezvous,  felt  sure  that 
the  expedition  against  Martinique  could  not  be  got 
under  way  before  the  hurricane  season.  As  tropical 
storms  were  more  to  be  feared  than  any  French  fleet, 
Amherst  was  instructed  not  to  undertake  that  enter 
prise  until  the  end  of  September  or  early  in  October. 
Meanwhile,  lest  Europe  should  think  that  England 
was  resting  on  her  laurels,  the  Commander-in-Chief 
was  to  send  to  Guadeloupe,  the  British  base  in  the 
Caribbean,  two  thousand  regulars  to  seize  Dominica 
and  Santa  Lucia. 

When  these  orders  arrived  at  New  York,  Amherst 
speedily  set  about  assembling  the  forces  for  the 
earlier  expedition  and  summoned  a  number  of  ships 
to  convoy  them  on  their  southward  voyage.  The 
command  of  the  troops  was  entrusted  to  Colonel 
Lord  Rollo,  who  had  displayed  efficiency  when  sent 
to  receive  the  surrender  of  Prince  Edward  Island 
after  the  victory  at  Louisburg.  The  fleet  sailed  from 
New  York  in  the  last  days  of  April.  Six  weeks  later 
Dominica  succumbed  to  the  quick  and  determined 
assault  of  the  British  soldiers,2  and  foreshadowed  the 
similar  fate  which  befell  its  sister-island,  Martinique, 
within  eight  months. 

In  the  meantime  Amherst  passed  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1761  in  sending  out  provincial  regiments 
to  take  the  place  of  the  regulars  called  in  to  prepare 

1  Beer's  British  Colonial  Policy,  p.  67. 

2  KimbalFs  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  442. 


194  JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

• 

for  the  expedition  against  Martinique.  For  this  pur 
pose  the  General  moved  his  headquarters  to  Albany, 
while  a  camp  for  the  returning  regulars  was  estab 
lished  on  Staten  Island,  just  below  New  York.  Sir 
William  Johnson  was  sent  to  Detroit  to  settle  affairs 
with  the  Indians  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  to 
see  that  their  trade  was  properly  conducted.  He 
carried  with  him  about  two  hundred  medals  to  dis 
tribute  among  the  more  faithful  of  the  redskins  who 
had  accompanied  the  army  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  Montreal  in  the  previous  year;  and  although 
Amherst  did  not,  as  yet,  perceive  the  necessity 
of  such  rewards,  he  agreed  that  it  would  please 
the  Indians  much,  and  rejoiced,  at  any  rate,  that 
the  expence  was  not  great.1  Early  in  September  the 
Commander-in-Chief  went  down  the  Hudson  again 
and  took  up  his  quarters  on  Staten  Island,  where  the 
troops  under  General  Monckton  awaited  the  arrival 
of  transports  to  carry  them  to  the  West  Indies.  He 
found  the  camp  healthy,  the  men  in  constant  exer 
cise,  and  every  prospect  of  a  strong  expedition  in 
both  quality  and  quantity.  Towards  the  end  of 
October  the  ships  came  in  and  anchored  within 
Sandy  Hook,  but  as  they  were  in  a  "shattered  condi 
tion"  as  the  result  of  a  hard  voyage,  repairs  were 
necessary,  and  the  fleet  did  not  get  to  sea  until  four 
weeks  later.  In  the  interim  the  British  camp  was 
the  scene  of  an  unusual  and  interesting  ceremony. 

1  KimbalFs  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  427.  A  white  marble  replica  of  one 
of  these  badges,  much  enlarged,  appears  as  a  medallion  over  the  door  of  the 
Amherst  mansion,  "Montreal,"  at  Sevenoaks,  Kent. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERSr,   KT.       195 

On  Odlober  25,  1761,  General  Amherst  was  invested 
with  the  insignia  of  a  Knight  of  the  Bath. 

When  George  II  revived  the  "most  honourable 
Order  of  the  Bath"  in  1725,  he  adted  upon  the  advice 
of  Sir  Robert  Walpole  and  intended  that  it  should 
supply  a  fund  of  favors,  in  lieu  of  places,  and  pre 
vent  an  excessive  demand  for  the  Garter.1  Among 
its  early  members  was  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  who 
was  made  "first  and  principal  Companion,"  while 
at  a  later  date  Ligonier,  by  his  gallant  action  at  Det- 
tingen,  won  a  place  upon  the  chosen  list.  In  1760 
the  old  King  died  and  was  succeeded  by  his  grand 
son,  the  young  and  independent  George  III,  just 
at  the  time  when  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Montreal 
reached  England.  It  was  not  long  before  the  new 
monarch  decided  to  decorate  Jeffery  Amherst  with 
a  red  ribbon.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  May  in  1761, 
twelve  knights-elect  were  installed  in  the  royal 
chapel  of  Henry  the  Seventh  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
After  the  procession  had  filed  from  the  chapter- 
room  to  the  chapel,  the  Dean  administered  the 
oath  and  admonished  them  to  use  their  swords 
"for  the  glory  of  God,  the  defence  of  the  gospel,  the 
maintenance  of  their  sovereign's  right  and  honor, 
and  of  all  equity  and  justice,  to  the  utmost  of  their 
power."  2  To  this  injunction  a  further  reminder  of 
their  duty  was  added  by  "the  King's  master-cook, 
who  stood  at  the  outside  door  of  the  Abbey  with  a 
linen  apron  on  and  a  chopping-knife  in  his  hand." 

1  Nicolas's  History  of  the  Orders  of  Knighthood,  iii,  39. 

2  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  31,  p.  236. 


196  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

To  each  newly  created  knight  he  addressed  himself 
as  follows:  "Sir,  you  know  what  great  oath  you  have 
taken,  which,  if  you  keep  it,  will  be  great  honor  to 
you;  but  if  you  break  it,  I  shall  be  compelled  by  my 
office  to  hack  off  your  spurs  from  your  heels." 

As  Amherst  was  in  America  at  the  time  of  the 
installation  he  was  spared  this  ordeal,  his  part  being 
taken  by  a  proxy,  Sir  Charles  Cotterel-Dormer,1 
but  Pitt  soon  informed  him  of  the  honor  conferred, 
and  sending  the  insignia  of  the  Order  across  the 
ocean,  instructed  the  governor  of  New  York  to  per 
form  the  ceremony  of  investiture  "in  the  most  hon 
ourable  and  distinguished  manner  the  circumstances 
will  allow  of."  At  about  the  same  time  Major- 
General  Robert  Monckton,  who  had  been  Wolfe's 
second  in  command  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  was 
appointed  chief  executive  of  New  York.  It  was 
Monckton,  therefore,  who,  on  almost  the  first  day  of 
his  administration,  invested  Amherst  with  the  gold 
collar  and  red  ribbon  of  the  Order  of  the  Bath.  The 
ceremony  took  place  in  camp  on  Staten  Island  on 
October  25,  in  the  presence  of  several  officers  of  the 
army.  General  Monckton  first  read  aloud  Pitt's 
letter  containing  his  instructions  and  then,  making 
an  apology  for  the  informality  of  the  occasion,  put 
the  ribbon  over  Sir  Jeffery's  shoulder.  The  new 
knight  responded  with  a  courteous  acknowledgment 
of  "this  distinguishing  mark  of  his  Majesty's  royal 
approbation,"  and  the  ceremony  was  completed.2 

1  Nicolas's  History  of  the  Orders  of  Knighthood,  iii,  85. 
*  Universal  Magazine ,  vol.  29,  p.  336. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,   KT.      197 

The  General  had  received  the  first  investiture  ever 
performed  in  America,  establishing  a  precedent  in 
accordance  with  which,  sixteen  years  later,  General 
William  Howe  was  decorated  at  New  York  by  his 
brother,  Viscount  Howe,  inappropriately  soon  after 
Washington's  astonishing  campaign  in  the  Jer 
seys.1 

Late  in  November  the  fleet  bound  for  the  attack 
upon  Martinique  got  away  from  Sandy  Hook  and 
bore  off  to  the  southward.  The  troops  were  under 
the  command  of  Monckton,  whose  zeal  for  military 
glory  was  not  to  be  hampered  by  his  duties  as  gover 
nor  of  New  York,  while  the  naval  force  that  supple 
mented  the  expedition  was  directed  by  Admiral 
Rodney,  the  same  gentleman  who  had  escorted  Am- 
herst  to  Louisburg  in  the  spring  of  1758.  Together 
they  silenced  the  guns  of  Fort  Royal  and  frightened 
St.  Pierre  into  submission.  Early  in  February,  1762, 
Martinique  was  surrendered  in  toto  to  invincible 
Britain. 

While  his  colleagues  were  increasing  their  reputa 
tions  by  active  service  in  the  West  Indies,  Sir  JefFery 
was  occupied  with  civil  and  political  concerns  of 
various  kinds.  After  the  fall  of  Fort  Levis,  and 
before  the  capitulation  of  Montreal,  the  General  had 
written  to  the  governor  of  New  York  recommending 
him  to  encourage  settlement  in  the  upper  Mohawk 
Valley  which  was  now  freed  from  the  raids  of  the 
French  and  Indians.2  Golden,  acting  upon  this  sug- 

1  Nicolas's  History  of  the  Orders  of  Knighthood,  iii,  92. 
1  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  455. 


198  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

gestion,  issued  a  proclamation  inviting  settlers  to  the 
newly    opened    territory.     The    response  was    imme 
diate,  and  applications  for  grants  of  land  poured  in.1 
This  development   of  the  wilderness  was    highly  de 
sirable  from  every  point  of  view,  but  Amherst's  eager 
ness  to  increase  the  security  of  military  posts  in  the 
interior  got  him  into  trouble  with  the  people  of  New 
York,    particularly    with    the    merchants    of   Albany, 
whose  prosperity  depended  to  a  great  extent  upon  a 
lucrative   trade   with    the    Indians.     As    soon    as    the 
Lords  of  Trade  learned  of  the  new  land  grants  made 
in  the  Mohawk  Valley  they  advised  the  Privy  Coun 
cil  to  put  a  stop  to  the  expansion  of  New  York  at 
once,  lest  the  Indians,  cheated  of  their  rightful  do 
main,  might  start  a  serious  disturbance  on  the  fron 
tier.     An  order  in  council  was  issued  enjoining  many 
provincial  governors,   including  Golden,   to  make  no 
further    grants,    and    reprimanding    them    and    their 
councils    for    their    past    behavior    in    this    respect.2 
This  edict  was  the  forerunner  of  the  Royal  Procla 
mation    of   1763,   which    put    a    definite   stop   to   the 
territorial   extension   of  the   colonies   until   the   home 
government  decided  upon  an  Indian  policy,   and  its 
origin  may  be  traced  directly  to  Amherst's  recommen 
dation    to    Golden    to    colonize    the    upper    Mohawk 
Valley  in  the  summer  of  1760. 

Hardly  had  this  disturbance  blown  over  when  the 
Lords  of  Trade  received  a  dignified  but  determined 
petition  from  the  merchants  of  Albany.  They  com- 

1  Afls  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  Unbound  Papers,  p.  335. 
*  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vn,  478. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,   KT.      199 

plained  that  Sir  Jeffery  had  given  ten  thousand  acres 
of  Indian  land  near  Niagara  to  a  group  of  army 
officers.  This  land  was  part  of  a  tract  which  had 
been  guaranteed  to  the  Iroquois  for  their  use  forever 
by  the  English  government  in  1726.  The  petition 
ers  did  not  doubt  that  Amherst's  generosity  was  due 
to  ignorance  of  England's  obligations,  but  if  this 
encroachment  upon  the  reservation  were  allowed,  not 
only  would  the  grantees  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the 
Indian  trade,  "and  reduce  thousands  of  His  Majesty's 
American  subjects  to  want,"  but  they  would  also  be 
likely  to  cause  an  outbreak  on  the  part  of  the  sav 
ages.1  The  Albanians  were  distinctly  in  the  right, 
however  commercial  their  motives  may  have  been, 
and  when  the  Privy  Council  raked  Amherst  gently 
over  the  coals  for  overstepping  his  powers,  the  Gen 
eral  cheerfully  confessed  his  guilt,  —  although  he 
insisted  that  whatever  grants  he  had  made  were 
understood  to  be  only  permits  to  occupy  the  land 
until  the  King's  pleasure  should  be  known.  Now 
that  the  authorities  had  given  him  a  definite  answer 
he  ordered  the  territory  to  be  vacated  at  once.2 

Among  the  many  people  who  "for  want  of  being 
rightly  informed"  applied  to  Amherst  for  tracts  of 
land  on  the  frontier  was  one  Eleazer  Wheelock,  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  at  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  whose 
chief  aim  in  life  was  the  conversion  and  education  of 
the  Indians.  Since  1754  he  had  been  at  the  head 
of  a  "charity-school"  in  his  home  town  where  a 

1  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  488. 

2  Ibid.,  vii,  509. 


200  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

handful  of  Indian  youths  endeavored  to  acquire 
learning  in  company  with  some  lads  of  English  par 
entage.  After  a  few  years  Mr.  Wheelock  realized 
that  the  sort  of  education  given  to  the  aborigines  at 
Moor's  School,  as  it  was  called,  would  avail  little 
so  long  as  they  were  "ignorant  of  all  the  affairs  of 
husbandry,  and  the  use  of  tools/'1  and  from  that 
moment  he  burned  with  a  desire  to  establish  an 
industrial  school  much  like  the  modern  institution 
at  Carlisle,  in  which  "well-instructed,  sober,  religious 
Indians"  might  be  employed  as  teachers  as  well  as 
the  English.  In  his  own  words  the  plan  was  "to 
have  lands  appropriated  to  the  use  of  Indian  schools, 
and  prudent,  skillful  farmers,  or  tradesmen,  to  lead 
and  instruct  the  boys,  and  mistresses  to  instruct  the 
girls,  in  such  manufactures  as  are  proper  for  them, 
at  certain  hours,  as  a  diversion  from  their  school 
exercises,  and  the  children,  taken  quite  away  from 
their-  parents  and  the  pernicious  influence  of  Indian 
examples,  there  may  be  some  good  prospect  of  great 
advantage  by  schools  amongst  them."  With  this 
estimable  purpose  the  broad-minded  educator  wrote 
to  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  in  the  spring  of  1763  and 
asked  for  a  tract  of  land  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
square  on  the  west  side  of  the  Susquehanna  River, 
"or  in  some  other  place  more  convenient  in  the  heart 
of  the  Indian  country."2  There  he  would  establish 
"an  academy  for  all  parts  of  useful  learning"  in  the 

1  Wheelock's  Narrative  of  the  Indian  Charity  School  at  Lebanon,  in  Con' 
nefticut. 

*  O'Callaghan's  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  iv,  328. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,   KT.      201 

midst  of  a  community  "  peopled  with  a  chosen  number 
of  inhabitants  of  known  honesty,  integrity,  and  such 
as  love,  and  will  be  kind  to,  and  honest  in  their  deal 
ings  with  Indians." 

To  Mr.  Wheelock's  appeal  Sir  Jeffery  could  make 
but  one  reply,  especially  as  the  trouble  about  the 
Niagara  grants  was  still  fresh  in  his  memory.  With 
expressions  of  his  high  opinion  of  the  minister's 
designs  and  aspirations,  he  reminded  the  gentleman 
that  the  disposal  and  settlement  of  all  conquered 
lands  must  be  determined  by  his  Majesty,  and 
wished  him  success  in  his  application  to  the  proper 
authority.1  A  few  years  later  Eleazer  Wheelock's 
dream  was  realized  in  New  Hampshire,  on  the  east 
ern  bank  of  the  Connecticut  River,  where  a  few  huts 
of  green  logs  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness  marked  the 
beginnings  of  Dartmouth  College.  As  the  institu 
tion  took  its  name  from  its  benefactor,  the  Earl  of 
Dartmouth,  one  cannot  help  wondering  what  name 
the  proposed  school  on  the  Susquehanna  would  have 
borne,  had  Amherst  been  able  to  oblige  the  zealous 
educator  with  a  grant  of  land.  Whatever  it  might 
have  been,  the  General's  name  was  destined  to  be 
adopted  a  half-century  later  by  another  college  sit 
uated  in  the  same  beautiful  valley  and  equally  well- 
known  in  the  world  of  letters. 

A  matter  of  great  concern  to  Amherst  was  the  il 
licit  trade  which  the  colonists  carried  on  with  the 
enemy  throughout  the  war.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
French  sugar  islands  in  the  West  Indies  depended 

1  Ibid.,  iv,  332. 


202  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

almost  entirely  upon  the  produce  of  the  British  col 
onies  on  the  continent  for  food.  Thus  for  fifty  years 
or  more  a  highly  profitable  trade  had  flourished  be 
tween  the  foreign  islands  and  the  bread  colonies  of 
the  north.  If  the  food  supply  of  the  former  were 
cut  off,  as  would  naturally  happen  in  time  of  war 
between  England  and  France,  starvation  would  stare 
the  islanders  in  the  face,  and  their  conquest  would 
be  a  simple  matter.  With  this  in  view  England  for 
bade  all  commercial  intercourse  with  the  French 
colonies  in  June,  1756,  and  sent  instructions  to  that 
effect  to  America.1  This  prohibition  was  reinforced 
in  the  following  year  by  an  acl:  of  Parliament  making 
it  illegal  to  export  any  food-stuffs  (except  fish  and 
rice)  from  the  American  colonies.  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  provincial  traders  were  not  at  all  favorably 
impressed  with  such  legislation.  Commerce  with  the 
French  West  Indies,  which  had  been  thoroughly  re 
munerative  in  time  of  peace,  now  promised  to  be 
abnormally  profitable.  The  enemy's  provisions  were 
scarce  and  supplies  would  bring  high  prices,  while 
the  islanders'  difficulty  in  marketing  their  chief  prod 
ucts,  sugar  and  molasses,  would  permit  the  New 
Englanders  to  purchase  them  almost  on  their  own 
terms.  France  could  no  longer  send  food  to  the 
West  Indies,  nor  could  the  sugar-planters,  on  the 
other  hand,  be  at  all  sure  that  their  cargoes  would 
reach  Europe  in  safety.  The  temptation  to  indulge 
in  the  forbidden  trade  was  indeed  great,  and  the 
British  colonists  did  not  long  resist  it. 

1  Beer's  British  Colonial  Policy,  1754-176^^  p.  78. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AM H ERST,  KT.      203 

Such  intercourse  with  the  enemy  was  dangerous, 
for  although  the  French  governors  were  quite  ready 
to  supply  the  ships  with  licenses  exempting  them  from 
capture  by  Bourbon  cruisers  or  privateers,  to  escape 
the  eye  of  British  officials  was  a  different  matter. 
At  first  this  was  accomplished  by  false  certificates 
and  mendacious  bills-of-lading,  a  practice  which  soon 
gave  way  to  a  safer  and  more  elaborate  means  of 
evasion  known  as  a  "flag  of  truce."1  This  was  a 
pass  from  the  government  authorizing  the  ship  to 
go  to  the  French  islands,  ostensibly  to  exchange 
prisoners  of  war,  but  actually  to  share  in  the  enor 
mous  profits  which  trade  with  the  enemy  under 
these  conditions  assured.  The  exportation  of  food 
stuffs,  particularly  flour,  was  as  great  a  hindrance  to 
England's  military  movements  in  America  as  it  was 
a  benefit  to  the  French  islanders.  Amherst  seems 
to  have  been  surprisingly  cognizant  of  this  illegal 
trade,  and  although  in  1759  he  complained  to  the 
governor  of  New  York  that  as  a  result  of  it  his  opera 
tions  against  Canada  were  seriously  handicapped  by 
a  lack  of  flour,2  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  informed 
Pitt  of  the  questionable  state  of  affairs.  Other  au 
thorities,  however,  did  not  hesitate  to  call  the  atten 
tion  of  the  home  government  to  "these  dangerous  and 
traiterous  proceedings."  Among  the  first  to  enlighten 
Pitt  were  Commodore  Moore  and  General  Crump, 
who  were  stationed  in  the  West  Indies;  but  more 
effective  was  the  exposure  of  Pennsylvania  by  its 

1  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  ii,  567. 

2  Beer's  Colonial  Policy,  p.  100. 


204  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

over-zealous  proprietary,  Thomas  Perm.1  Although 
this  son  of  the  founder  had  renounced  America  for 
England  as  a  place  of  residence  long  before  the  pres 
ent  war,  he  had  kept  in  touch  with  the  province, 
and  thus  was  able  to  give  accurate  information  about 
conditions  existing  on  the  Delaware.  In  1759  rela 
tions  were  strained  between  the  colonists  and  the 
proprietaries,  and  it  may  have  been  a  desire  to  cause 
trouble  for  the  Pennsylvanians  that  led  Thomas 
Penn  to  present  a  few  facts  to  Pitt's  attention.  His 
text  was  the  illicit  trade  carried  on  between  the 
bread  colonies  and  the  foreign  West  Indies,  and  his 
description  of  the  Philadelphia  wharves  swarming 
"with  shallops  unloading  these  illegal  cargoes,  brought 
at  their  return,  and  cheating  the  king  of  his  duties 
besides  carrying  provisions  and  ready  money  to  the 
enemy,"  was  both  graphic  and  alarming. 

William  Pitt  acted  in  the  matter  with  his  accus 
tomed  promptness  and  vigor.  Letters  were  sent  to 
all  the  governors  in  North  America  and  the  West 
Indies,  informing  them  of  the  recent  reports  and 
ordering  them  to  make  inquiries  "into  the  state  of 
this  dangerous  and  ignominious  trade,"  to  discover 
all  persons  in  any  way  concerned  in  it,  and  to  bring 
"such  heinous  offenders  to  the  most  exemplary  and 
condign  punishment."  2  The  results  of  the  ensuing 
investigations  were  astounding.  New  York  pleaded 
guilty,  but  insisted  that  Philadelphia  was  a  greater 
offender.  Pennsylvania's  governor  lamented  the  griev- 

1  Beer's  Colonial  Policy,  p.  91. 

2  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  320. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,  KT.      205 

ous  state  of  affairs  under  his  predecessor,  the  un 
fortunate  Denny,  —  who,  "as  it  were,  opened  a 
shop"  where  flags  of  truce  might  be  bought  by  all 
comers,  —  but  assured  the  home  government  that  the 
days  of  such  iniquity  were  over.  Governor  Stephen 
Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island  boldly  justified  the  game 
which  the  merchants  of  his  colony  had  been  playing, 
while  Virginia's  chief  magistrate  gave  an  illuminat 
ing  account  of  the  way  the  trade  was  carried  on 
from  his  colony.  Few  investigations  in  history  have 
been  more  gratifying  to  the  muck-raker.  Governor 
Bernard's  seizure  of  a  vessel  and  crew  in  Boston 
Harbor  yielded  the  intelligence  that  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  who  were  then  ravaging  the  frontier  of 
South  Carolina,  had  been  indirectly  supplied  with 
ammunition  by  the  English  trading  at  New  Orleans.1 
Yet  commerce  with  the  enemy  apparently  went  on 
as  before. 

In  the  Spring  of  1762,  Amherst  became  aware  that 
the  evil,  under  a  different  guise,  still  continued. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  April  he  sent  a  circular  letter  to 
the  governors  asking  them  to  put  a  stop  to  "such 
infamous  practices"  at  once,  and  to  prohibit  the 
exportation  of  any  kind  of  provisions  from  their 
ports.  The  latter  measure  he  hoped  would  be  effec 
tual:  otherwise  an  embargo  on  all  shipping  must  be 
resorted  to.2  A  few  days  later  the  "papers  and 
effects  of  several  gentlemen  subjects  of  the  King  of 
France,"  seized  by  the  sheriff  in  New  York,  added 

1  Sparks  MSS.,  "  Bernard  Official  Correspondence,"  Vol.  ii. 

2  Beer's  Colonial  Policy,  p.  no;  Colonial  Records  of  Rhode  Island,  vi,  213. 


206  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

more  fuel  to  the  fire.1  From  these  it  appeared  that 
French  agents  had  come  to  America  with  the  express 
purpose  of  promoting  the  illegal  West  Indian  trade, 
not  only  to  furnish  the  enemy's  settlements  with  pro 
visions  but  also  to  supply  their  fleets  and  armies,  if 
any  should  be  stationed  in  the  Antilles.  There  was 
every  indication  that  the  Frenchmen  placed  their 
chief  reliance  upon  Rhode  Island,  and  that  several 
merchants  of  Newport  were  implicated  in  the  busi 
ness.2  As  the  Commander-in-Chief  needed  every 
barrel  of  flour  he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  to  vidlual 
the  four  thousand  men  about  to  join  the  expedition 
against  Havana,  he  wrote  at  once  to  the  governor  of 
Rhode  Island  and  asked  him  to  decree  a  general 
embargo  on  all  shipping.  The  same  fate  was  shared 
by  other  colonies.  The  embargo  was  laid  and  en 
forced;  but  as  soon  as  Amherst  had  assurance  that 
a  quantity  of  provisions  for  the  army  was  on  its  way 
out  from  England,  he  hastened  to  free  the  ports 
from  restriction,  much  to  the  gratification  of  the 
merchants,  just  and  unjust.3 

In  January,  1762,  England  declared  war  against 
Spain.  The  latter  power  had  been  preparing  to 
join  forces  with  France  against  Britain  for  a  long 
time,  and  yet  England  had  persistently  refused  to 
listen  to  Pitt's  predictions  to  that  effect.  At  last 
when  the  truth  of  his  prophecy  was  realized  and  it 
became  obvious  that  his  Catholic  Majesty  was  merely 

1  New  York  Historical  Society's  Colleflions  for  1876,  p.  199. 

2  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  vi,  317-18. 
*  Ibid.,  vi,  323. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,  KT.      207 

waiting  for  a  favorable  occasion  to  open  hostilities, 
George  III  took  the  initiative  and  declared  war. 
The  far-seeing  Pitt  had  laid  the  foundations  for  a 
successful  descent  upon  the  Spanish  West  Indies 
when  the  expedition  against  Martinique  was  sent 
out:  now  the  great  minister  had  resigned,  but  the 
impetus  of  his  genius  still  carried  England  on  to 
victory.  The  first  blow  was  aimed  at  Havana,  the 
key  to  Spain's  insular  possessions.  Early  in  March, 
1762,  Lord  Albemarle  sailed  from  England  with 
four  regiments  under  convoy  of  Admiral  Sir  George 
Pocock,  and  toward  the  end  of  April  they  arrived  at 
Martinique.  There  Monckton's  forces,  "much  re 
duced  by  sickness,"  were  added  to  the  fresh  troops, 
giving  Albemarle  in  all  a  force  of  twelve  thousand 
men  with  which  to  attack  Havana. 

Early  in  the  winter  orders  had  been  sent  to  Am- 
herst  to  provide  four  thousand  men,  some  of  whom 
were  to  be  provincials,  and  to  send  them  to  Cape 
St.  Nicholas,  the  northwestern  tip  of  Haiti,  to  join 
the  rest  of  the  expedition.  If  the  attack  on  Cuba 
proved  successful,  these  troops  were  to  be  returned 
to  the  Commander-in-Chief  immediately  after  the 
conquest,  and  he  should  then  undertake  a  similar 
enterprise  against  the  Spanish  settlements  along  the 
north  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Amherst  organ 
ized  his  contingent  as  early  in  the  season  as  the  delib 
eration  of  the  colonial  assemblies  allowed;  but  it 
was  the  end  of  June  before  all  the  troops  had  left 
New  York.1  Albemarle  and  Pocock  decided  not  to 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War>  ii,  262. 


208  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

wait  for  them.  Passing  through  the  dangerous  Old 
Bahama  Channel,  the  fleet  came  in  sight  of  Matan- 
zas,  and  on  the  sixth  of  June  approached  the  island 
capital.  The  Spaniards,  although  previously  warned, 
were  completely  surprised. 

The  chief  fortification  of  Havana  was  Morro 
Castle,  which  stood  on  a  rocky  point  at  the  har 
bor's  mouth,  bidding  defiance  to  attack  by  land  or 
by  sea.  Strangely  enough,  this  bulwark  of  strength 
lacked  a  garrison  versed  in  the  use  of  artillery,  and 
to  remedy  that  deficiency  its  defence  was  assigned  to 
Don  Luis  de  Velasco,  the  captain  of  a  ship-of-war. 
Velasco  manned  the  fortress  with  gunners  from  the 
navy  and  prepared  to  discharge  his  important  trust. 
The  British  army  landed  almost  unresisted  about  six 
miles  to  the  eastward  of  the  city.  After  a  few  minor 
engagements  the  main  attack  was  concentrated  on 
Morro  Castle,  while  the  enemy,  with  the  Spanish 
faculty  of  doing  the  wrong  thing  at  the  right  time, 
bottled  up  their  own  fleet  by  sinking  three  ships  in 
the  narrow  entrance  to  the  harbor.  This  achievement 
removed  all  possibility  of  a  naval  engagement  which 
might  have  frustrated  the  whole  expedition.  If  the 
English  fleet  had  been  disabled  the  city  might  have 
been  saved,  but  now  the  fall  of  Havana  must  mean 
the  capture  of  the  fleet.1  The  soil  in  front  of  the 
castle  was  so  thin  and  rocky  that  earthworks  were 
almost  out  of  the  question.  Bundles  of  faggots  were 

1  Captain  Stockton's  Military  and  Naval  Operations  against  Cuba  and 
Puerto  Rico,  p.  22,  in  Military  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts'  Papers, 
vol.  xi. 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,  KT.      209 

employed  instead,  and  when  these,  scorched  to  tin 
der  by  the  frightful  June  sun,  caught  fire,  Albemarle 
used  cotton  bales  to  form  the  approaches  and  bat 
teries,  —  an  expedient  resorted  to  by  Andrew  Jack 
son  in  the  defence  of  New  Orleans  some  forty  years 
later.  As  at  Louisburg  and  at  Martinique,  the  sailors 
turned  artillery-men,  and  in  spite  of  the  torrid  heat 
of  a  Cuban  summer,  did  splendid  work  on  shore. 
The  siege,  however,  was  far  from  enjoyable.  Bad 
food  and  lack  of  water  played  havoc  with  the  Eng 
lish,  until  five  thousand  soldiers  and  three  thousand 
seamen  were  disabled  with  wounds  or  fever.  But 
though  the  sea  was  scattered  over  with  floating  corpses, 
and  though  the  camp  was  a  pest-house,  the  British 
sappers  and  miners  continued  their  relentless  approach 
to  the  wralls  of  Morro  Castle. 

Men  looked  out  to  sea  in  the  hope  of  descrying 
the  belated  ships  from  New  York  bringing  the  Ameri 
can  contingent,  but  July  was  almost  gone  before 
their  sails  came  up  over  the  horizon.  Even  then 
the  forces  that  arrived  were  but  a  fraction  of  those 
that  were  expected,  for  part  had  been  intercepted 
and  captured  by  a  French  fleet  hovering  about 
the  Caicos  Passage,  and  part  had  been  wrecked  in 
the  perilous  Old  Bahama  Channel.1  Nevertheless,  the 
moral  effect  of  the  reinforcements  was  great.  On 
the  thirtieth  day  of  July  a  breach  was  made  in  the 
wall  of  the  Castle  and  an  assault  followed.  Don 
Luis  de  Velasco,  although  seriously  hurt,  rushed  to 
the  ramparts  to  help  beat  back  the  onslaught  of 

1  Corbett's  England  in  the  Seven  Tears'  War>  ii,  279. 


210  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  British  grenadiers:  but  all  in  vain.  The  brave 
Spaniard  was  shot  in  the  breast,  and  when  he  had 
fallen,  mortally  wounded,  Morro  Castle  followed  the 
example  of  Louisburg,  Quebec,  and  Montreal.1 

The  second  instalment  of  American  reinforcements 
arrived  off  Havana  on  the  second  day  of  August. 
The  surrender  of  the  city  was  then  inevitable,  and 
on  the  tenth  Albemarle  sent  in  his  summons.  Out 
of  bravado  the  Spaniards  refused  it,  but  the  next 
day's  bombardment  produced  a  myriad  of  white 
flags  all  over  the  town.  On  the  thirteenth  of  August, 
1762,  Havana  capitulated,  and  great  was  the  fall 
thereof.  At  one  blow  Spain  lost  nearly  one-fifth  of 
her  entire  navy,  while  the  amount  of  prize-money 
acquired  by  the  army  and  navy  recalled  the  days  of 
Sir  Francis  Drake.  Three  million  pounds  sterling 
fell  into  England's  lap.  Much  of  this  was  divided 
among  the  soldiers  and  sailors,  although  the  lion's 
share  went  to  the  Earl  of  Albemarle  and  Admiral 
Sir  George  Pocock,  each  of  whom  received  over  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds. 

Before  the  good  news  from  Cuba  reached  New 
York  an  unexpected  development  to  the  northeast 
ward  diverted  Amherst's  thoughts.  By  the  concen 
tration  in  the  West  Indies  the  British  garrisons  in 
North  America  were  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  the 
French  ministry  availed  itself  of  the  opportunity  to 

1  When  the  news  of  Velasco's  gallant  defense  and  dramatic  death  reached 
Madrid  the  King  of  Spain  ordered  that  there  should  always  be  a  ship  in  the 
Spanish  navy  named  "  Velasco."  The  last  man-of-war  to  bear  that  appella 
tion  was  captured  by  the  fleet  under  Commodore  Dewey  in  Manila  Bay  on 
the  first  of  May,  1898.  (Stockton's  Military  and  Naval  Operations,  p.  25.) 


SIR  JEFFERT  AMHERST,   KT.      211 

give  England  a  saucy  slap  by  attacking  Newfound 
land.  In  May  the  Chevalier  de  Ternay  slipped  out 
of  Brest  with  two  ships  of  the  line,  two  frigates,  and 
about  fifteen  hundred  troops  under  the  Comte  de 
Haussonville,  and  on  one  of  the  longest  days  in  the 
year  the  squadron  came  in  sight  of  St.  John's,  New 
foundland.  The  English  garrison  of  one  hundred  men 
quickly  surrendered  the  place,  after  which  the  French 
men  amused  themselves  by  destroying  the  fisheries, 
shipping,  and  whatever  property  the  island  afforded. 
The  governor  of  Newfoundland,  Captain  Graves, 
who  later  became  a  well-known  admiral,  was  absent 
from  St.  John's  at  the  time,  and  so  escaped  capture. 
To  his  appeal  for  aid  Amherst  made  as  quick  a  re 
sponse  as  circumstances  would  permit.  The  situa 
tion  was  difficult,  for  no  troops  were  available  except 
those  at  Nova  Scotia.  Nevertheless,  Sir  Jeffery  col- 
ledled  fifteen  hundred  men  in  the  course  of  a  month 
and  entrusted  them  to  his  brother  William,  who  had 
never  before  enjoyed  an  independent  command.  The 
expedition  sailed  from  Louisburg  on  September  5. 
About  a  week  later  it  was  joined  by  Lord  Colville 
with  his  flag-ship  and  a  frigate,  a  few  leagues  to  the 
southward  of  St.  John's.  Finding  a  very  good  beach 
at  Torbay,  which  was  not  far  from  his  objective, 
Colonel  Amherst  landed  his  troops  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  thirteenth.  From  that  point  a  rough 
path  led  through  the  woods  to  the  open  country 
around  the  town.  The  British  soon  drove  the  enemy 
out  of  the  woods  and  back  to  "two  very  high  and 
steep  hills"  which  seemed  to  control  the  harbor  and 


212  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

all  the  ground  between  the  attacking  party  and  St. 
John's.  One  smart  engagement  snatched  the  first 
hill  from  the  French;  the  second  they  vacated  vol 
untarily  and  withdrew  into  the  town.1  While  Col 
onel  Amherst  was  landing  his  artillery  and  stores  and 
planting  his  batteries  on  the  night  of  the  sixteenth, 
the  enemy's  fleet  took  advantage  of  a  dense  fog  and 
stole  out  of  the  harbor.  Colville  and  Graves  were 
on  the  watch  for  just  such  a  move,  but  the  sly  Ter- 
nay  towed  out  his  ships  with  boats,  and  when  the 
fog  lifted,  the  hostile  squadron  was  far  beyond  pur 
suit.  St.  John's  was  doomed  and  Ternay  knew  it. 
His  object  was  merely  to  save  what  he  could.  On 
September  18,  1762,  the  anniversary  of  the  surrender 
of  Quebec,  the  Comte  de  Haussonville  asked  for  Am- 
herst's  terms.  With  an  insistence  upon  a  speedy 
decision  which  would  have  done  justice  to  his  brother, 
the  British  colonel  demanded  that  the  garrison  of 
St.  John's  surrender  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  French 
man  readily  agreed  to  the  conditions  imposed,  and 
Newfoundland  was  restored  to  its  traditional  sover 
eign.  As  Amherst's  losses  did  not  exceed  fifty  men 
killed  and  wounded  and  the  surrendered  garrison 
numbered  over  six  hundred,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what 
the  French  had  gained  by  their  summer  excursion 
to  the  coast  of  Newfoundland. 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  32,  pp.  484-487. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PONTIAC'S    WAR 

FROM  the  time  Jeffery  Amherst's  ship  cast 
anchor  off  Louisburg  until  the  General  left 
New  York  for  England  five  years  later,  the 
bane  of  his  military  existence  was  the  American 
Indian.  In  1758  savages  skulked  in  the  woods  of 
Cape  Breton  Island  and  fell  upon  any  unwary  English 
regular  who  separated  himself  from  his  fellows;  in 
the  following  year  the  seizure  of  two  messengers  whom 
the  Commander-in-Chief  had  despatched  to  Quebec 
with  important  communications  for  Wolfe  was  the 
occasion  of  Major  Rogers'  expedition  against  the  St. 
Francis  Indians.  As  doubtful  allies  of  the  English  in 
the  descent  upon  Montreal  in  1760,  the  redskins  became 
disgusted  with  Amherst's  prohibition  of  inhumanity, 
and  the  majority  of  them  returned  to  their  wilderness 
homes  in  a  rage.  Then  came  a  dangerous  uprising  of 
the  Cherokees  on  the  Carolina  frontier.  This  had 
hardly  been  suppressed  with  fire  and  sword  when  an 
Indian  outbreak,  the  most  serious  and  wide-spread  of 
all,  broke  out  at  Detroit  in  May,  1763.  The  last  dis 
turbance  bears  the  name  of  its  chief  organizer  and 
promoter  and  is  known  as  the  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac. 
Two  Indian  grievances  of  the  first  magnitude  were 
the  causes  of  the  war  that  came  as  the  aftermath  of 


214  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  conquest  of  Canada.  The  first  of  these  was  the 
constant  encroachment  of  the  white  man  upon  the 
forest  domain  of  the  savages  in  spite  of  all  promises 
and  treaties  to  the  contrary.  As  early  as  1760  Am- 
herst  had  sent  a  written  message  to  the  Iroquois  in 
the  vicinity  of  Fort  Pitt,  assuring  them  that  they 
would  be  compensated  for  any  ground  taken  for  mili 
tary  posts,1  but  that  engagement  had  never  been 
fulfilled,  and  the  Indians  began  to  suspect  that  this 
was  the  first  step  towards  their  enslavement  and  the 
invasion  of  their  domain.2  More  disturbing  than 
the  military  occupation  of  strategic  points  was  the 
fact  that  "a  number  of  vagabonds,"  under  pretence 
of  hunting,  had  overrun  their  lands  and  were  making 
settlements  in  many  parts  of  them.3  This  usurpa 
tion  shook  what  little  faith  the  Indians  had  in  their 
white  neighbors,  for,  by  the  Treaty  of  Easton,  Penn 
sylvania  had  retroceded  to  them  all  the  country  west 
of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  for  their  hunting-ground.4 
Although  the  Privy  Council  accepted  this  self-denying 
ordinance  as  the  solution  of  frontier  troubles  and,  in 
1761,  extended  its  provisions  to  apply  to  Virginia,5 
the  aborigines  continued  to  make  "grievous  and 
repeated  complaints"  that  the  treaty  was  not  lived 
up  to.  There  was  abundant  room  for  misinterpre 
tation  of  the  phrase  "westward  of  the  great  ridge." 
Did  it  mean  beyond  the  foothills,  or  beyond  the 

1  Journals  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  1761-1765,  p.  xiii. 

2  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  577. 

3  Report  on  Canadian  Archives  for  1889,  p.  74. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  73;   O'Callaghan's  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  ii,  775. 
6  Ads  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  iv,  475. 


PONTIAC'S   WAR  215 

watershed?  The  Indians  construed  it  in  one  way, 
the  colonists  in  another.  The  uncertainty  was  not 
cleared  up  until  the  Royal  Proclamation  of  1763  set 
the  limit  of  the  expanding  colonies  at  "the  heads  or 
sources  of  any  of  the  rivers  which  fall  into  the  Atlan 
tic  Ocean  from  the  west  or  northwest":  in  the  mean 
time  the  Indians  took  it  upon  themselves  to  enforce 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  as  they  understood  them. 

The  second  great  cause  of  discontent  was  the  scar 
city  of  supplies  felt  by  the  Indians  as  soon  as  New 
France  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  Hardly 
had  Major  Rogers  taken  possession  of  the  western 
posts  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  when 
it  became  apparent  that  the  new  masters  of  the 
country  were  neither  so  generous  as  the  French  nor 
so  pleasant  to  deal  with  in  business  relations.  The 
Frenchmen  had  taken  pains  to  secure  the  good  will 
of  the  Indians  who  came  to  the  forts.  They  gave 
the  redmen  guns,  ammunition,  and  clothing,  until 
the  latter  became  entirely  dependent  upon  the  de 
vices  of  the  Europeans  and  forgot  the  use  of  their 
primitive  weapons  and  garments.  The  English  had 
always  neglecled  the  Indians,  enemy  or  ally.  Now 
they  saw  no  reason  for  continuing  the  crafty  largesse 
of  their  Bourbon  enemies.  Supplies  ceased  to  flow 
from  the  wilderness  posts,  and  want  and  suffering 
among  the  Indians  followed,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

At  first  Amherst  a&ed  upon  the  advice  of  Sir 
William  Johnson,  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs 
for  the  northern  tribes,  and  sent  pork  and  flour  to 
the  baronet's  house  "for  the  use  of  the  most  neces- 


216  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

sitous  Indians  during  the  winter,"  l  but  when  it 
appeared  that  this  charity  was  likely  to  become  a 
permanent  institution,  the  Commander-in-Chief  very 
naturally  felt  that  affairs  were  being  managed  on  a 
wrong  basis.  He  decided  that  Johnson's  policy  of 
treating  the  Indians  like  children,  pleasing  their  van 
ity,  and  buying  their  friendship  with  little  presents 
and  favors,  was  not  sound.  It  was  not  consist 
ent  with  the  dignity  of  England,  nor  was  it  calcu 
lated  to  secure  the  Indians'  friendship  and  respect 
for  any  length  of  time.  Furthermore,  it  was  uneco 
nomic,  and  Amherst  begrudged  every  penny  that 
went  from  his  military  chest  as  a  douceur  to  a  people 
whom  he  despised.  His  first  move  was  to  cut  off 
their  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition,  "lest  they 
should  increase  their  stock  from  our  bounty."  2  When 
Johnson  asked  for  £1000  to  purchase  the  usual  pres 
ents  for  the  meeting  of  the  Six  Nations,  Sir  Jeffery 
granted  the  sum,  but  charged  the  recipient  "to  be  as 
sparing  in  these  presents  as  possible."3  In  like  vein 
Amherst  wrote  to  Colonel  Henry  Bouquet,  who  was 
commanding  in  Pennsylvania;  he  insisted  upon  econ 
omy  in  the  matter  of  presents  to  the  Indians  in  that 
quarter,  and  increased  the  resentment  of  the  redskins 
by  making  it  difficult  for  them  to  get  rum.  Bouquet 
remonstrated,  declaring  that  a  lack  of  presents  was 
the  chief  cause  of  the  discontent  among  the  Indians; 

1  Amber st  to  Bradstreet,  Nov.  8,  1760,  Myers  Collection  of  MSS.,  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library. 

a  Amherst  to  Sir  William  Johnson,  August  18,  1761,  Emmet  MS.  8814, 
New  York  Public  Library. 

8  Miscellaneous  MSS.y  New  York  Public  Library. 


PONTIACS  WAR  217 

but  Amherst  could  not  see  the  matter  in  that  light. 
His  reply  to  Bouquet's  representations  makes  clear 
the  Indian  policy  of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  "As 
to  appropriating  a  particular  sum  to  be  laid  out 
yearly  to  the  warriors  in  presents,  etc.,  that  I  can 
by  no  means  agree  to;  nor  can  I  think  it  necessary 
to  give  them  any  presents  by  way  of  Bribes,  for  if 
they  do  not  behave  properly  they  are  to  be  pun 
ished."  1  Sir  JefFery  acted  according  to  his  convic 
tions,  which  were  based  upon  a  military  man's  point 
of  view,  but  in  the  end  his  policy,  or  lack  of  policy, 
proved  to  be  penny-wise  and  pound-foolish. 

An  entirely  different  attitude  toward  the  Indian 
question  was  that  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  a  man  who 
had  been  singularly  successful  in  his  dealings  with  the 
redmen.  For  almost  thirty  years  this  adventurous 
Irishman  had  lived  on  the  frontier  of  New  York, 
and  by  a  prosperous  traffic  with  the  natives  had 
accumulated  a  small  fortune.  His  two  mansions  in 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  Johnson  Castle  and  Johnson 
Hall,  were  gathering-places  for  the  Indians,  who  came 
in  crowds  to  visit  their  good-natured  host.  John 
son's  first  wife  was  a  Dutch  woman.  After  her 
death  his  affections  centred  upon  Molly  Brant,  the 
sister  of  the  Mohawk  war-chief,  and  thus  the  entente 
cordiale  between  the  frontier  plutocrat  and  his  sav 
age  neighbors  was  consummated  into  an  enduring 
friendship.  Johnson's  military  career  in  the  French 
and  Indian  War  brought  him  recognition  in  England. 
After  the  unsatisfactory  but  hard-fought  battle  of 
1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  i8in. 


218  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Lake  George  he  was  made  a  baronet,  and  was  still 
further  rewarded  by  a  gift  of  five  thousand  pounds 
from  the  king.  More  important  for  England  was 
his  appointment  as  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs 
for  the  northern  tribes,  which  was  made  about  this 
time.  It  was  Johnson,  too,  who  captured  Niagara 
in  the  same  season  which  saw  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point  fall  into  Amherst's  hands. 

Whatever  estimate  one  may  form  of  Sir  William's 
career  as  a  whole,  one  must  admit  that  his  faculty 
for  dealing  with  the  Indians  was  little  short  of  gen 
ius.  His  policy  was  diametrically  opposed  to  that  of 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  but  since  their  jurisdictions 
conflicted,  and  military  measures  became  entangled 
with  Indian  affairs,  even  Sir  William  Johnson  could 
not  roll  back  the  tide  of  discontent  which  was  sweep 
ing  eastward  from  the  northwest.  He  saw  the  dan 
ger,  but  without  Amherst's  support  his  soothing 
influence  could  not  be  really  efficacious.  In  vain  the 
Iroquois  brought  their  troubles  to  his  sympathetic 
ear,  for  Amherst  refused  to  continue  the  French 
practice  of  flattering  them  and  of  making  them  pres 
ents.  As  Johnson  rightly  declared,  the  customary 
gifts,  however  expensive  and  bountifully  bestowed, 
were  "infinitely  cheaper  and  much  more  effectual 
than  the  keeping  of  a  large  body  of  regular  troops 
in  their  several  countries/'1  Where  Indian  hostility 
was  concerned  he  believed  that  an  ounce  of  preven 
tion  was  worth  a  pound  of  cure,  a  conviction  which 
events  were  to  justify  only  too  soon.  To  Johnson's 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  i8in. 


PONTIAC'S  WAR  219 

warnings  and  suggestions  Sir  Jeffery,  thoroughly  irri 
tated  by  the  unrest  of  the  western  Indians,  finally 
retorted  that  unless  the  savages  became  loyal  sub 
jects  of  George  III  "they  must  not  only  expect  the 
severest  retaliation,  but  an  entire  destruction  of  all 
their  nations,  for  I  am  firmly  resolved,  whenever  they 
give  me  an  occasion,  to  extirpate  them  root  and 
branch."  l  But  when  the  occasion  was  given,  the 
General  found  his  proposed  extermination  more 
easily  threatened  than  accomplished. 

For  the  first  two  years  after  the  surrender  of  New 
France  all  that  the  Indian  discontent  lacked  was  a 
leader.  In  the  winter  of  1762-63  the  deficiency  was 
supplied  by  the  appearance  of  an  Indian  of  extraor 
dinary  powers.  This  man  was  Pontiac,  the  prin 
cipal  chief  of  the  Ottawas.  Proud  in  spirit  and  keen 
in  perception,  Pontiac  realized  the  crisis  that  con 
fronted  his  race  and  determined  to  overthrow  the 
existing  order  of  things.  A  return  to  the  days  of 
French  ascendancy  seemed  to  him  the  surest  way  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  evils  that  oppressed  his  breth 
ren.  In  this  belief  he  was  encouraged  by  "French 
missionaries  and  others"  who  assured  him  that 
though  the  King  of  France  had  been  asleep  in  recent 
years  he  was  now  awake,  and  that  his  armies  were 
advancing  up  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  rescue  his  red  children  from  the  encroaching  Eng 
lish.2  Now  was  the  time  to  strike.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  year  1762,  Pontiac  sent  ambassadors  to 

1  Amberst  to  Johnson,  Emmet  MS.  8814. 
*  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  185. 


220  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

many  different  nations,  urging  them  to  rise  simul 
taneously  at  a  certain  time  in  May  and  fall  upon 
every  English  fort  in  the  wilderness.  When  these 
were  destroyed,  the  whole  pack  would  assail  the 
frontier.  The  exhortation  was  received  with  enthu 
siasm  throughout  the  Ohio  Valley  and  the  district  of 
the  Great  Lakes;  even  one  member  of  the  Iroquois 
confederacy,  the  Senecas,  who  were  geographically 
the  most  remote  from  Sir  William  Johnson,  joined 
the  insurgent  league.  In  the  early  spring  of  1763 
rumors  of  a  general  uprising  floated  into  the  British 
forts,  but  the  dissimulation  of  the  savages  was  so 
successful  that  no  one  suspected  how  formidable  a 
blow  was  in  preparation. 

On  the  evening  of  May  6,  1763,  an  Ottawa  Indian 
who  had  only  half-heartedly  acquiesced  in  Pontiac's 
designs  came  to  the  gate  of  the  fort  at  Detroit  and 
asked  to  speak  to  the  commander.  It  was  evident 
that  he  had  an  important  secret  to  impart.  The 
gates  were  opened  to  him  and  in  a  few  minutes  he 
found  himself  in  the  presence  of  Major  Gladwin  and 
his  second  in  command,  Captain  Campbell.  To  them 
the  Indian  divulged  the  plot  which  his  chief  had 
contrived  for  the  destruction  of  all  the  English  at 
Detroit.  The  plan  was  this:  Pontiac,  at  the  head  of 
sixty  picked  warriors  with  weapons  concealed  under 
their  blankets,  was  to  come  to  the  fort  to  ask  the 
commandant  for  a  great  council.  After  this  delega 
tion  the  rest  of  the  village  should  follow,  as  uncon 
cernedly  as  possible;  but  all  were  to  be  armed  with 
hidden  tomahawks  and  knives.  The  women  of  the 


PONTIACS  WAR  221 

Ottawas,  too,  should  straggle  in  with  the  others, 
carrying  guns  cut  short  enough  to  be  hidden  under 
their  blankets.  These  squaws  should  take  position 
in  the  back  street  of  the  fortified  village  and  await 
the  war-cry  of  the  great  chief.  At  the  given  signal 
all  would  hurl  themselves  upon  the  English  and  de 
stroy  them,  but  care  would  be  taken  not  to  hurt  any 
Frenchman.  This  was  part  of  the  conspiracy  of 
Pontiac,  and  its  execution  was  set  for  the  very  next 
day. 

The  truth  of  the  communication  was  apparent  to 
Major  Gladwin.  He  recalled  rumors  that  many 
Indians  had  recently  visited  the  blacksmith's  shop 
to  borrow  files  and  saws  for  some  mysterious  pur 
pose.  When  these  suspicious  acls  were  described  to 
the  commandant,  with  friendly  suggestions  to  be  on 
his  guard,  he  had  given  little  heed  to  the  news;  but 
now  the  events  assumed  serious  significance.  The 
desired  tools  were  to  be  used  in  amputating  the 
muzzles  of  the  guns,  in  preparation  for  the  surprise 
of  the  garrison.  The  Major  thanked  his  informant 
and  wished  to  reward  him  with  presents;  but  the 
savage  shook  his  head,  asking  only  that  the  English 
men  would  never  reveal  his  identity  to  the  conspira 
tors.  Gladwin  and  Campbell  relieved  his  mind  on 
that  point,  and  without  disclosing  what  startling 
words  had  been  poured  into  their  ears,  the  com 
manders  quietly  doubled  the  guards  and  closed  all 
entrances,  except  the  main  gates.  At  each  of  the 
latter  two  sentinels  were  posted,  while  the  officers 
were  ordered  to  inspect  the  arms  of  the  troops  under 


222  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

their  command  and  to  notify  their  men  to  be  ready 
for  duty  at  a  moment's  notice.  All  these  precau 
tions  were  taken,  and  with  so  little  disturbance 
that  neither  the  French  dwelling  within  the  forti 
fied  town,  called  the  Fort,  nor  the  watchful  Indians 
beyond  the  palisade  had  any  occasion  to  suspect 
that  the  plot  was  discovered.1 

On  the  morning  following,  May  7,  Pontiac  ordered 
all  his  people  to  chant  the  war-song  in  their  village, 
to  paint  their  faces,  and  to  put  on  their  feather  bon 
nets  in  preparation  for  the  attack.  Eagerly  his  fol 
lowers  obeyed  his  instructions,  making  themselves 
frightful  with  the  paraphernalia  of  savage  warfare. 
Under  their  blankets  or  hidden  within  their  crude 
garments,  the  Indians  carried  whatever  weapons 
they  could  best  conceal  and  yet  use  to  advantage 
when  the  appointed  moment  came.  Thus  equipped, 
the  chief  and  his  motley  rabble  appeared  before  the 
fort  at  about  ten  o'clock.  Pontiac  demanded  a  coun 
cil  with  the  English  officers.  There  was  nothing 
extraordinary  in  the  request,  for  the  redmen  were 
frequently  moved  to  wait  upon  the  military  command 
ers  and  ask  for  a  hearing  of  their  grievances,  real  or 
imaginary.  Indeed,  on  the  first  day  of  May  Pon 
tiac,  with  malice  aforethought,  had  been  to  the  fort 
and  had  told  Gladwin  that  he  intended  to  pay  him 
a  formal  visit  before  long.2  Now  the  time  had  come. 
His  wish  was  granted,  and  soon  the  crafty  Indian 

1  The  Pontiac  Manuscript,  printed  in  the  Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical 
Society's  Collections,  Vol.  viii. 

2  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  236n. 


PONTIAC'S  WAR  223 

with  his  sixty  trusted  warriors  crowded  into  the 
house  of  Captain  Campbell.  There  Major  Glad- 
win,  accompanied  by  a  party  of  officers  who  were 
warned  of  the  impending  danger,  received  them: 
other  officers  were  busy  about  the  town,  stationing 
the  troops  where  they  would  be  of  the  most  serv 
ice  when  the  outbreak  occurred.  The  council  was 
opened,  and  while  it  was  in  progress  the  rest  of  the 
Indians  flocked  through  the  gates,  settled  down  where- 
ever  their  chief  had  ordained  that  they  should  place 
themselves,  and  awaited  the  war-cry.  When  Pon- 
tiac  calculated  that  the  trap  was  ready  to  be  sprung, 
he  stepped  outside  the  council-house  and  looked 
about  the  enclosure  to  make  sure  that  all  was  as  it 
should  be.  To  his  great  surprise,  instead  of  seeing 
groups  of  idle  soldiers  lounging  about  the  fort,  he 
found  the  drill-ground  alive  with  armed  troops  going 
through  their  exercises.  At  once  the  scheming  red 
skin  realized  that  his  designs  were  discovered.  His 
only  thought  then  was  to  get  his  people  safely  out  of 
the  fort.  When  this  was  accomplished  he  might  deceive 
the  English  commander  into  believing  that  there  was 
no  plot.  After  that  he  would  take  other  measures  and 
crown  a  second  attempt  with  complete  success. 

Disappointed  and  disconcerted,  the  proud  Ottawa 
turned  back  to  the  house  where  his  conspirators 
impatiently  awaited  the  signal  for  attack.  But  one 
look  at  his  face,  full  of  vexation  and  wrath,  damp 
ened  their  ardor.  There  was  to  be  no  massacre  that 
day.  Pontiac,  however,  took  care  that  no  adlion 
on  his  part  should  justify  Gladwin's  suspicions  or 


224  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

jeopardize  the  safe  departure  of  the  Indians.  He 
killed  time  by  making  a  meaningless  speech,  which 
the  Major  answered  calmly  without  intimating  any 
knowledge  of  the  hostile  intentions  of  his  uncouth 
guests.  The  art  of  dissimulation  was  practised  with 
remarkable  finesse  on  both  sides,  but  perhaps  the 
height  of  diplomacy  was  reached  when  Gladwin  pre 
sented  the  departing  Indians  with  numerous  trifles 
which  he  knew  would  please  them.  The  discomfited 
conspirators,  however,  were  too  furious  to  remember 
what  few  manners  they  possessed.  They  "went  out 
without  saying  good-bye  or  anything  else,"  and  pass 
ing  through  the  gate  returned  to  their  camp.  The 
first  attempt  to  destroy  the  English  at  Detroit  had 
been  frustrated,  but  this  failure  was  only  the  begin 
ning  of  the  end. 

Two  days  later,  on  the  ninth  of  May,  the  common 
outside  the  stockade  was  again  alive  with  a  greasy 
horde  of  Indians.  From  their  midst  out  strode  the 
haughty  Pontiac.  He  approached  the  gate  of  the 
fort,  but  it  was  barred  against  him.  He  called  to 
the  sentinels  and  asked  why  he,  the  chief  of  the 
Ottawas,  was  refused  admittance.  The  commander 
replied  sententiously  that  Pontiac  might  enter,  but 
that  most  of  his  friends  must  remain  outside  the 
palisade.  The  Indian  protested  that  all  his  people 
wished  to  smell  the  smoke  of  the  peace-pipe,  that 
would  bind  their  interests  with  those  of  the  English; 
but  Gladwin,  disgusted  with  the  transparency  of  the 
savage's  designs,  answered  him  with  a  flat  refusal, 
which  ended  the  conversation.  Furious  at  the  fail- 


PONTIACS  WAR  225 

ure  of  his  second  stratagem,  Pontiac  turned  on  his 
heel  and  went  back  to  the  Ottawa  village.  Seizing 
a  tomahawk,  he  chanted  the  war-song  and  cried  that 
"since  he  could  not  slay  the  English  at  the  fort,  he 
would  slay  those  outside  of  it."  Thenceforth  no 
British  subject  in  the  region,  man,  woman  or  child, 
was  safe  except  within  the  stockade  of  Detroit. 

Foiled  in  his  attempts  to  capture  the  fort  by 
treachery,  Pontiac  now  made  an  open  attack.  For 
six  hours  on  May  10  the  Indians  assailed  the  pali 
sades  with  furious  persistency;  but  their  efforts 
were  in  vain.  In  spite  of  this  hostile  demonstration, 
Major  Gladwin  continued  to  believe  that  the  out 
break  was  merely  a  passing  mood,  and  now  that  the 
savages  had  given  vent  to  their  feelings  he  felt  that  a 
reconciliation  would  be  easily  effected.  As  the  town 
was  in  great  need  of  provisions  and  there  was  no 
prospect  of  supplies,  peace,  or  at  least  a  truce,  would 
be  highly  advantageous  to  the  Englishmen.  Captain 
Campbell  and  a  junior  officer  were  sent  to  the  enemy's 
camp  to  negotiate  with  the  wily  Pontiac,  who  pre 
tended  to  show  a  strong  desire  for  amity;  but  Glad- 
win's  hopes  were  soon  dashed.  Campbell  and  his 
companion  were  immediately  made  captives,  and 
before  many  days  the  older  man  was  murdered  by 
the  savages,  while  his  more  fortunate  fellow-prisoner 
succeeded  in  making  his  escape.1  It  became  clear 
that  Detroit  was  to  be  blockaded  in  earnest,  and  the 
harassed  garrison  resigned  themselves  to  a  long  and 
vigilant  defence. 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  310. 


226  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

The  tactics  by  which  Pontiac  had  failed  to  sur 
prise  and  destroy  the  Englishmen  at  Detroit  were 
employed  by  his  allies  and  followers  with  almost 
universal  success  in  compassing  the  downfall  of  the 
other  British  posts  in  the  Lake  Region.  Less  than 
ten  days  after  the  fiasco  in  Gladwin's  council-room, 
the  unsuspecting  garrison  at  Fort  Sandusky  were 
pounced  upon  by  a  band  of  Indian  visitors.  The 
parade-ground  was  soon  strewn  with  the  bodies  of 
butchered  soldiers  and  the  fort  was  put  to  the  torch. 
A  week  later  a  friendly  talk  between  the  British 
commandant  at  St.  Joseph's  and  a  group  of  Indian 
chiefs  suddenly  changed  into  a  massacre  of  the  gar 
rison.  Lower  Lake  Michigan  was  thus  purged  of 
the  English.  Then  in  quick  succession  came  the  loss 
of  Fort  Miami  on  the  Maumee  River,  the  capture  of 
Ouatanon  on  the  Wabash,  and  the  bloody  slaughter 
at  Fort  Michilimackinac,  which  gave  Lakes  Michigan 
and  Huron  into  the  complete  control  of  the  savages. 

Towards  the  east  fortune  favored  Pontiac's  schemes 
with  equal  success.  The  little  garrison  at  Presqu' 
isle  on  Lake  Erie  had  long  mistrusted  that  an  Indian 
attack  upon  their  fort  was  impending,  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  June  their  expectations  were  realized. 
At  early  dawn  the  yelling  of  a  large  number  of  red- 
men  announced  the  opening  of  a  hot  fight.  The 
blockhouse  was  supposedly  impregnable,  but  its 
shingled  roof  was  showered  with  fire-arrows  and  fre 
quently  burst  into  flames.  The  defence  was  gallant 
and  exciting.  For  two  days  and  two  nights  Ensign 
Christie  and  his  twenty-seven  men  held  the  enemy 


PONTIACS  WAR  227 

at  bay,  and  the  soldiers,  in  spite  of  their  weariness, 
were  resolved  to  hold  the  post  until  the  end,  — 
although  it  was  clear  that  sooner  or  later  a  confla 
gration  must  terminate  the  conflict.  The  Indians 
proposed  that  the  garrison  surrender  the  fort  and 
retire  unmolested  to  the  nearest  post.  The  terms 
were  dismally  reminiscent  of  the  capitulation  of  Fort 
William  Henry  in  1757,  but  the  commandant  chose 
them  rather  than  to  face  the  certain  death  which 
must  come  with  the  burning  of  the  blockhouse.  The 
place  was  surrendered,  and,  as  might  be  expecfled,  its 
recent  defenders,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  go  to 
Fort  Le  Boeuf  or  Niagara,  were  carried  prisoners  to 
Pontiac's  camp  at  Detroit.1 

When  Presqu'  isle  fell,  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
wilderness  posts  linking  it  with  Fort  Pitt  would  be 
swept  away  by  the  tide  of  Indian  victory  which  was 
rolling  eastward  towards  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
Such  indeed  proved  to  be  the  gruesome  fact.  The 
handful  of  men  to  whom  the  security  of  Fort  Le 
Boeuf  was  entrusted  stood  their  ground  until  the  fort 
became  a  burning  prison,  from  which  the  gallant 
defenders  made  good  their  escape  into  the  dark  night, 
eventually  reaching  the  stout  walls  of  Fort  Pitt.  Less 
fortunate  were  the  occupants  of  Venango.  There  a 
pretence  of  friendship  on  the  part  of  the  savages 
opened  the  gates  to  a  band  of  Senecas,  who  treacher 
ously  fell  upon  the  garrison  and  killed  them  all,  ex 
cept  the  commandant,  Lieutenant  Gordon.  A  worse 
fate  awaited  this  unfortunate  officer.  For  several 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  i,  297. 


228  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

nights  in  succession  he  was  roasted  over  a  slow  fire, 
until  at  length  death  put  an  end  to  his  tortures.1 

In  the  first  two  months  of  the  war  the  savages  had 
been  astoundingly  victorious.  West  of  Niagara,  but 
two  forts,  Detroit  and  Fort  Pitt,  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  English.  Around  these  two  storm- 
centres  the  fury  of  the  redmen  now  whirled  with 
increasing  energy. 

At  about  the  time  the  last  of  these  tragedies  oc 
curred,  Amherst  received  his  first  intimation  that 
there  was  trouble  in  the  Lake  Region.  Early  in  the 
spring  he  had  sent  a  strong  detachment  up  the 
inland  waterway  with  a  supply  of  provisions  for 
Detroit  and  the  other  western  posts.  The  convoy 
consisted  of  several  boats  manned  and  guarded  by 
about  a  hundred  men  under  Lieutenant  Cuyler. 
Leaving  Fort  Niagara  in  the  middle  of  May,  they 
cruised  along  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  on  their 
way  to  Detroit.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  the  month 
the  expedition  landed  at  Point  Pelee,  not  far  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  River.  There  they  were 
attacked  by  a  ferocious  band  of  Wyandots,  who  cap 
tured  almost  the  entire  party  and  their  equipment. 
Cuyler  with  a  few  others  escaped,  and  returning  to 
Niagara,  sent  a  report  of  the  disaster  to  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief.  His  unhappy  comrades  were  not 
so  fortunate.  Made  captive  by  their  savage  foes, 
the  soldiers  were  forced  to  man  the  oars  and  to 
propel  the  flotilla  on  its  way  to  expectant  Detroit, 
where  the  sight  of  the  approaching  vessels  was  hailed 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ii,  23. 


PONTIACS  WAR  229 

with  delight  until  proximity  disclosed  the  horrid 
reality  of  the  situation.  Worse  than  the  disappoint 
ment  of  the  besieged,  who  now  were  confronted  by 
the  prospect  of  starvation,  was  another  sequel  to  the 
capture  of  Cuyler's  expedition.  For  several  succeed 
ing  days  the  smiling  surface  of  the  river  was  hideous 
with  bloody  corpses  and  half-roasted  human  bodies 
floating  downstream  from  Pontiac's  camp.  Every 
conceivable  form  of  torture  had  been  practised  upon 
the  wretched  Englishmen,  only  a  few  of  whom  were 
saved  for  adoption  and  slavery.1  With  such  sickening 
suggestions  of  their  probable  fate,  Gladwin  and  his 
garrison  continued  their  endeavors  to  save  the  post 
for  England. 

The  first  relief  came  to  Detroit  towards  the  end 
of  June.  A  schooner  which  Gladwin  had  sent  to 
wards  Niagara  to  hasten  the  progress  of  Cuyler's 
supply  ships,  now  returned,  bringing  the  leader  of 
that  ill-starred  expedition,  a  few  of  the  survivors, 
and  such  reinforcements  as  could  be  spared  from  the 
fort  near  the  great  waterfall.  The  blockade  was 
successfully  run  after  a  hot  skirmish  with  the  Indians, 
and  the  vessel  safely  discharged  its  precious  cargo 
of  men,  provisions,  and  ammunition  under  the  guns 
of  the  fort.  Upon  this  the  enemy,  by  land  and  water, 
redoubled  their  efforts  to  reduce  Detroit. 

When  the  news  of  the  siege  reached  Amherst,  the 
General  found  himself  in  an  embarrassing  situation. 
The  military  establishment  in  North  America  was 
reduced  to  almost  nothing  by  the  expeditions  recently 

1  Pontiac  Manuscript. 


230  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

sent  against  the  French  and  Spanish  West  Indies. 
The  troops  returning  from  Havana  were  worn  out 
by  the  hardships  of  that  frightful  campaign  and 
formed  but  remnants  of  the  valiant  regiments  that 
had  stormed  the  Morro.  The  provincial  contingent, 
too,  was  only  a  fraction  of  what  it  had  been,  and  was 
chiefly  employed  in  garrison  duty  in  Canada  and  on 
the  frontier;  hence  the  mobile  force  ready  for  use  in 
this  emergency  was  appallingly  meagre.  For  Am- 
herst  it  was  not  a  question  of  what  he  would  do, 
but  rather  of  what  he  could  do,  to  suppress  the 
Indian  uprising.  Under  the  circumstances  he  acted 
admirably.  His  first  move  was  to  send  to  the  front 
his  aide-de-camp,  Captain  Dalyell,  for  whom  he  had 
both  military  esteem  and  personal  affection.  Sir 
Jeffery  ordered  him  to  go  to  Niagara  with  all  the 
reinforcements  he  could  possibly  collect,  and  if  devel 
opments  justified  a  campaign,  to  proceed  thence  to 
Detroit.  Dalyell  gathered  together  two  hundred  and 
eighty  men  and  several  small  cannon;  with  these 
and  a  fresh  supply  of  provisions  and  ammunition, 
he  sailed  from  Niagara  to  relieve  the  western  fort. 
Though  small  in  quantity,  the  troops  under  his 
command  were  rare  in  quality,  for  they  included  the 
incomparable  Major  Robert  Rogers  and  a  score  of 
his  rangers. 

The  expedition  reached  Detroit  in  safety  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  July  and  did  much  to  restore  the 
spirits  of  the  long-suffering  soldiers  there.  But 
Dalyell  was  not  content  with  strengthening  the 
defence.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  type  of  James 


PON TI ACS  WAR  231 

Wolfe,  and  was  bitten  with  a  desire  to  inflict  an  im 
mediate  and  decisive  defeat  upon  the  savages.  In 
a  conference  with  Gladwin  on  the  day  of  his  arrival, 
he  urged  the  latter  to  allow  him  to  lead  an  attack 
against  the  Indian  camp  at  the  earliest  possible  date. 
The  commandant  was  reluctant  to  grant  the  request, 
but  remembering,  perhaps,  that  his  friend  was  by  no 
means  a  novice  in  Indian  warfare,  as  he  had  been  the 
companion  of  Israel  Putnam  on  more  than  one  ad 
venturous  occasion,  Gladwin  finally  yielded  to  his 
entreaty. 

Long  before  dawn  on  the  thirty-first  of  July  two 
hundred  and  fifty  British  troops  passed  out  of  the 
gates  of  the  fort,  while  two  large  bateaux  paralleled 
their  movements  on  the  river.  A  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  stockade  the  road  crossed  a  small  creek  by 
a  wooden  bridge,  —  known  ever  since  that  fatal 
morning  as  Bloody  Bridge,  —  and  there  the  Indians, 
forewarned  by  some  telltale  Canadians,  awaited  their 
oncoming  assailants.  When  the  advance-guard  of 
the  British  were  halfway  across  the  stream,  the  sav 
ages  fell  upon  them  unmercifully.  The  night  was 
intensely  dark,  and  the  Indians  seemed  to  be  on  all 
sides.  It  was  the  same  old  story.  The  savages  shot 
down  the  British  by  scores,  while  the  Englishmen 
could  not  guess  where  the  enemy  were,  except  by  the 
flash  of  their  deadly  muskets.  When  it  became  evi 
dent  that  his  men  were  entirely  surrounded,  Dalyell 
ordered  an  instant  retreat.  The  return  to  Detroit 
would  have  been  a  flight  had  not  the  comman 
der,  twice  wounded  though  he  was,  enforced  order 


232  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

upon  his  terror-stricken  soldiers.  As  the  men  hurried 
along  in  the  gray  light  of  daybreak,  their  leader 
caught  sight  of  a  sergeant  who  had  fallen  helplessly 
wounded  and  who  must  soon  feel  the  blow  of  a  sav 
age  tomahawk.  With  quick  sympathy  Dalyell  turned 
back  to  rescue  the  subaltern.  A  third  shot  struck 
him  and  he  fell  dead,  while  his  detachment  continued 
on  their  frenzied  way  towards  the  shelter  of  the  fort. 
At  last  the  nightmare  was  over  and  four-fifths  of  the 
men,  with  the  aid  of  the  resourceful  Rogers,  were 
once  more  within  the  walls  of  Detroit. 

Far  from  achieving  the  purpose  which  its  advocate 
had  intended,  the  fight  at  -Bloody  Bridge  elated  the 
besieging  Indians,  giving  to  the  tedious  monotony  of 
the  blockade  just  that  excitement  which  was  neces 
sary  to  revive  the  flagging  interest  of  the  restless 
savages.  Dalyell's  body  was  recovered  by  the  Eng 
lish  and  brought  into  the  fort,  but  not  until  the 
Indians  had  torn  out  the  gallant  soldier's  heart  and 
smeared  its  blood  upon  the  faces  of  their  prisoners. 

The  other  centre  of  Indian  activity  in  the  summer 
of  1763  was  Fort  Pitt.  Since  the  last  week  in  May, 
pioneers  and  settlers  in  its  vicinity  had  been  menaced 
by  the  savages,  and  on  June  22  an  unsuccessful 
attack  upon  the  fort  itself  inaugurated  a  blockade.1 
Thenceforth  that  strategic  post  was  practically  iso 
lated  from  the  rest  of  the  military  establishments  of 
the  English.  Fortunately  Fort  Pitt  was  commanded 
by  an  officer  of  remarkable  intelligence  and  fortitude. 
Captain  Ecuyer  was  a  lively  Swiss  who  enjoyed 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ii,  15. 


PON ri ACS  WAR  233 

fighting  for  fighting's  sake,  and  if  his  post  had  not 
been  burdened  with  refugees,  many  of  whom  were 
women  and  children,  he  would  have  looked  upon  the 
siege  as  a  most  entertaining  game.  His  garrison 
numbered  more  than  three  hundred,  provisions  were 
plenty  and  the  fort  was  in  an  excellent  posture  of 
defence.  The  commandant's  only  anxiety  arose  from 
the  fadl  that  smallpox  had  broken  out  in  his  camp; 
this  danger,  however,  did  not  assume  alarming  pro 
portions.  Throughout  July  Fort  Pitt  was  closely 
hemmed  in  by  the  savages,  but  their  assaults  were 
only  half-hearted  until  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
seventh.  Then  the  redskinned  warriors  opened  *  a 
general  fire  which  continued  for  several  days.  Ecuyer 
was  in  his  element,  and  his  soldiers  were  not  far  be 
hind  him  in  their  enjoyment  of  the  fray.  Many 
wished  to  make  a  sortie  and  drive  the  Indians  from 
their  hiding-places,  but  this  was  wisely  forbidden. 
Though  the  commandant  was  wounded  in  the  leg  by 
a  swift  arrow,  he  merely  made  sport  of  the  accident, 
and  day  after  day  the  same  martial  program  went 
on.  Suddenly,  on  the  first  of  August,  the  savages 
decamped,  leaving  the  tired  garrison  to  speculate 
upon  the  cause  of  their  unexpected  departure. 

The  redskins  had  good  reason  for  abandoning  the 
attack  upon  Fort  Pitt.  An  army  of  British  regulars 
was  approaching  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  this  ex 
pedition  could  be  better  disposed  of  in  the  depths  of 
the  wilderness  than  before  the  walls  of  the  obstinate 
fortress.  Early  in  June,  before  the  news  of  Cuyler's 
mishap  or  of  the  blockade  of  Detroit  reached  Am- 


234  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

herst's  ears,  the  Commander-in-Chief  had  heard  re 
ports  of  trouble  with  the  Indians  along  the  frontier 
of  Pennsylvania.  At  first  he  was  not  greatly  dis 
turbed  by  the  alarm;  but  when  bad  tidings  were 
constantly  followed  by  worse,  Sir  Jeffery's  apparent 
indifference  changed  to  grave  concern,  particularly 
when  the  developments  in  the  Lake  Region  made  it 
clear  that  this  was  no  ordinary  uprising  of  the  In 
dians.  Collecting  and  organizing  what  troops  he 
could,  Amherst  sent  them  off  to  Philadelphia  to  be 
used  as  Colonel  Bouquet,  his  right-hand  man  in  the 
Quaker  province,  should  see  fit. 

Colonel  Henry  Bouquet  was  one  of  those  rare 
spirits  who  relieve  the  monotony  of  military  annals. 
Like  the  gallant  Ecuyer,  he  was  a  Swiss,  and  had 
been  a  soldier  from  boyhood.  His  first  appearance 
in  America  was  as  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Royal 
Americans,  the  crack  regiment  of  which  Amherst 
was  colonel  ex  officio.  In  1763  Bouquet  was  in  com 
mand  of  the  first  battalion,  and  ready  for  service  at 
a  moment's  notice.  For  the  business  in  hand  he  was 
one  man  in  a  thousand.  His  hatred  of  the  Indians, 
whom  he  termed  "the  vilest  of  brutes/'  was  equalled 
only  by  his  chiefs  regard  for  that  "execrable  race." 
As  he  sped  on  his  way  to  the  relief  of  Fort  Pitt,  the 
Colonel  exchanged  interesting  suggestions  with  the 
General  as  to  the  most  efficient  manner  of  getting 
rid  of  the  redskins.  Amherst  had  just  heard  of  two 
particularly  atrocious  murders  perpetrated  by  the 
savages  and  his  blood  was  up.  His  first  orders  to 
Bouquet  were  that  he  wished  "to  hear  of  no  prison- 


PONTUCS  WAR  235 

ers  should  any  of  the  villains  be  met  with  in  arms," 
but  this  injunction  was  mild  in  comparison  with  sub 
sequent  ideas  which  occurred  to  Sir  Jeffery.1  Learn 
ing  that  smallpox  had  broken  out  at  Fort  Pitt,  the 
Commander-in-Chief  wondered  whether  the  disease 
could  not  be  spread  to  good  advantage  among  the 
hostile  Indians.  He  expressed  this  thought  in  a  post 
script  to  Bouquet.  The  resourceful  Swiss  seized 
upon  the  idea  and  developed  it.  In  his  reply  to 
Amherst  he  wrote: 

"I  will  try  to  inoculate  the  with  some 

blankets  that  may  fall  in  their  hands,  and  take  care 
not  to  get  the  disease  myself.  As  it  is  a  pity  to  ex 
pose  good  men  against  them,  I  wish  we  could  make 
use  of  the  Spanish  method,  to  hunt  them  with  Eng 
lish  dogs,  supported  by  rangers  and  some  light  horse, 
who  would,  I  think,  effectually  extirpate  or  remove 
that  vermin." 

Sir  Jeffery's  rejoinder  approved  the  smallpox 
method  of  extermination  and  expressed  his  regret 
that  the  remoteness  of  merry  England  made  the  sug 
gestion  of  canine  aid  impracticable.2  Whether  the 
blanket  treatment  was  practised  or  not  must  remain 
a  question,  but  the  credulous  may  draw  their  own 
conclusions  from  the  fact  that  a  few  months  later 
smallpox  broke  out  with  unusual  severity  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 

Colonel  Bouquet  lost  no  time  in  getting  to  the 
front.  From  Carlisle,  which  was  filled  with  terror- 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ii,  42. 

2  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ii,  44-45. 


236  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

stricken  refugees,  he  pushed  westward  with  about 
five  hundred  men,  the  best  of  whom  were  Highland 
ers  of  the  Forty-second  Regiment.  All  along  the 
way  there  were  depressing  evidences  of  Indian  rav 
ages.  The  whole  country-side  was  deserted  by  its 
erstwhile  inhabitants,  and  here  and  there  the  charred 
timbers  of  a  settler's  cabin  told  a  tragic  story  of 
frontier  life.  At  Bedford  the  troops  rested  three 
days  before  setting  out  upon  the  most  difficult  part 
of  their  route,  the  crossing  of  the  Alleghany  Moun 
tains  and  the  traversing  of  the  rough  wilderness 
beyond  the  ridge.  Here  Bouquet  was  happily  rein 
forced  by  a  band  of  thirty  backwoodsmen,  whose 
familiarity  with  forest  conditions  made  them  inval 
uable  adjuncts  in  the  van  and  in  the  rear.  The  road 
followed  by  Bouquet  and  his  little  army  was  that 
rugged  trail  hacked  out  by  Forbes's  axe-men  on  their 
way  to  the  conquest  of  Fort  Duquesne  in  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  1758.  It  was  indeed  a  difficult  track. 
Up  precipitous  mountain-sides  and  through  danger 
ous  defiles  the  sweating  soldiers  and  struggling  wagon 
trains  pressed  on  to  the  relief  of  Fort  Pitt.  After  a 
few  days  of  such  exertion  the  commander  decided 
to  leave  behind  the  more  cumbrous  part  of  his  con 
voy  and  let  the  troops  advance  with  greater  speed. 
The  change  was  made,  but  hardly  had  the  unham 
pered  expedition  resumed  its  march  when  war- 
whoops  and  the  rattle  of  musketry  informed  the 
soldiers  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy 
more  to  be  feared  than  the  mountain  fastnesses 
which  they  had  scaled,  and  more  treacherous  than 


PONTIACS  WAR  237 

the   quagmires   that   had   occasionally   arrested   their 
wearisome  progress. 

It  was  shortly  after  noon  on  August  5th  when  the 
advance-guard  was  thus  suddenly  attacked  in  the 
woods  of  Edge  Hill  by  an  invisible  band  of  Indians. 
Two  companies  immediately  came  to  its  support, 
succeeded  in  driving  the  enemy  from  their  ambus 
cade,  "and  pursued  them  a  good  way."  The  sav 
ages,  however,  returned  to  the  attack  with  vigor; 
their  fire  which  was  obstinate  in  front  soon  extended 
along  the  flanks  of  the  British.  The  position  became 
serious.  Bouquet  ordered  a  general  charge,  hoping 
to  drive  the  enemy  from  the  heights  they  occupied; 
and  although  to  all  immediate  appearances  the 
troops  accomplished  that  object,  no  real  advantage 
was  gained.  The  enemy,  in  true  Indian  fashion, 
gave  way,  —  only  to  reappear  upon  all  sides  soon 
afterwards.  The  light  convoy,  consisting  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  horses  loaded  with  flour,  had  been 
left  in  the  rear  in  supposed  safety,  but  now  it  was 
mercilessly  assailed  by  the  savages.  The  troops  fell 
back  to  protect  the  horses  and  provisions,  and  the 
action  became  general  and  deadly.  All  that  after 
noon  the  fighting  continued.  At  night  the  battle 
subsided,  giving  the  English  an  opportunity  to 
count  their  losses.  More  than  sixty  men  out  of  a 
scant  five  hundred  lay  dead  or  wounded  on  the  forest 
battleground.  Such  a  diminution  of  his  effectives 
could  not  be  easily  afforded  by  Colonel  Bouquet. 
With  gloomy  forebodings  he  looked  forward  to  the 
next  day's  encounter,  which  would  doubtless  begin 


238  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

with  the  earliest  light  of  dawn.  In  the  meantime 
the  men  improvised  out  of  bags  of  flour  a  shelter  for 
the  wounded,  and  about  this  central  stronghold  they 
arranged  themselves  in  a  defensive  circle.1  Then 
the  tired  soldiers  lay  upon  their  arms  and  snatched 
what  sleep  they  could. 

True  to  Bouquet's  expectations,  the  battle  began 
at  daybreak  before  the  British  troops  had  had  much 
opportunity  to  recover  from  their  fatigue  of  the  pre 
ceding  day.  The  soldiers'  chief  lack  was  water,  of 
which  not  a  drop  was  to  be  had.  A  small  stream 
called  Bushy  Run,  from  which  this  desperate  struggle 
afterwards  ironically  took  its  name,  lay  only  a  half- 
mile  distant,  but  between  the  thirst-maddened  troops 
and  its  refreshing  waters  the  forest  bristled  with  a 
host  of  redskins.  As  on  the  previous  afternoon,  the 
Indians  shouted  and  yelled  in  a  terrifying  manner; 
their  efforts  to  reach  the  stronghold,  however,  were 
unsuccessful.  The  Englishmen  fought  splendidly. 
Again  and  again  they  apparently  routed  the  enemy 
only  to  see  them  reappear  when  least  expected.  This 
sort  of  fighting  was  too  exasperating  and  too  danger 
ous  for  Colonel  Henry  Bouquet.  With  ingenuity 
worthy  of  Pontiac  himself,  the  Swiss  commander 
devised  a  ruse  whereby  the  Indians,  deceived  into 
thinking  that  the  British  were  retreating,  rushed  into 
a  trap  and  were  practically  surrounded  by  those  whom 
they  thought  to  have  conquered.  Then  indeed  were 
the  tables  turned.  The  English  poured  deadly  vol- 

1  Bouquet  to  Amkerst,  August  5,  1763. 


PONTIACS  WAR  239 

leys  upon  the  front  and  right  flank  of  the  astonished 
savages.  At  first  the  Indians  returned  the  fire,  but 
the  shock  of  the  surprise  and  the  fury  of  this  unlooked- 
for  onslaught  soon  gave  them  but  one  thought,  —  to 
fly.  The  rout  of  the  enemy  was  complete,  and  the 
British  pursued  them  until  "they  were  totally  dis 
persed."  When  the  chase  was  over  and  the  woods 
seemed  quite  cleared  of  lurking  savages,  the  victorious 
little  army  "marched  without  molestation"  to  the 
banks  of  Bushy  Run.1  Four  days  later  Colonel  Bou 
quet  and  his  men  relieved  Fort  Pitt.  The  right  arm 
of  Pontiac's  rebellion  was  broken. 

Amherst  was  well  pleased  with  the  success  of  Bou 
quet's  expedition  and  particularly  with  that  "  very 
wisely  concerted  and  as  happily  executed"  stratagem 
at  Edge  Hill,  which  had  spelled  defeat  for  the  In 
dians.2  While  the  General  rejoiced  in  the  ebbing  tide 
of  Pontiac's  victories  in  the  upper  Ohio  Valley,  In 
dian  impatience  was  doing  much  to  relieve  the  pre 
carious  state  of  affairs  at  Detroit.  The  savages  had 
not  anticipated  such  a  prolonged  and  uninteresting 
siege  as  that  which  had  lasted  from  late  spring  until 
early  autumn,  with  only  occasional  encouraging  and 
enlivening  episodes.  Their  ardor  waned  with  the 
summer  solstice,  the  more  so  when  rumors  came  to 
them  that  a  strong  British  force  was  on  its  way  up 
the  lakes.  Three  of  the  four  tribes,  until  now  under 
Pontiac's  leadership,  decided  to  sue  for  peace.  Glad- 

1  Bouquet  to  Amherst,  August  6,  1763. 

2  Amherst  to  Bouquet,  August  31,  1763. 


240  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

win,  only  too  glad  to  see  the  turn  affairs  were  taking, 
feigned  reluctance  to  grant  an  absolute  pacification, 
but  consented  to  a  truce.  The  Ottawas  alone  con 
tinued  in  open  war  against  the  English.  The  thirty- 
first  of  October,  however,  saw  the  final  blow  fall 
upon  Pontiac's  pet  project.  On  that  day  a  letter 
arrived  from  M.  Neyon,  who  commanded  the  prin 
cipal  French  post  in  the  Illinois  country,  informing 
the  Ottawa  leader  that  any  expectation  of  assistance 
from  the  French  was  futile.  England  and  France 
were  at  peace  and  the  Indians  had  better  abandon 
their  hopeless  hostilities.1  This  was  virtually  the  end 
of  the  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.  Had  the  defeated 
chieftain  known  the  history  of  the  persuasive  letter, 
he  would  have  been  even  less  happy  than  he  was,  — 
for  its  existence  was  due  entirely  to  the  efforts  of 
an  astute  Englishman.  That  Englishman  was  none 
other  than  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst.  Realizing  how 
powerful  an  influence  the  French  still  wielded  among 
the  Indians,  and  knowing,  too,  that  much  of  the 
present  trouble  was  due  to  the  savages'  delusion  that 
a  Bourbon  army  was  coming  to  their  aid,  he  had 
demanded  that  M.  Neyon  write  a  circular  letter  to 
all  the  nations  of  the  Ohio  Valley  and  of  the  Lake 
Region,  putting  an  end  to  their  false  hopes  and 
advising  them  to  bury  the  hatchet.  The  French 
man  reluctantly  complied  with  this  requisition,  and 
thus  the  rebellion  received  its  death  blow. 
The  Indian  troubles  of  1763  have  often  been  re- 

1  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ii,  117. 


PONTIAC'S  WAR  241 

garded  as  a  blight  upon  the  otherwise  flawless  laurels 
Amherst  won  in  America.  But  is  such  an  estimate 
just?  Granted  that  Sir  JefFery's  short-sighted  econ 
omy  in  part  occasioned  the  uprising  of  the  savages, 
when  the  storm  broke  did  he  not  handle  the  crisis 
exceptionally  well?  The  war  was  not  of  the  kind  to 
produce  brilliant  exploits,  but  its  conduct  demanded 
both  energy  and  sagacity.  With  almost  no  military 
resources,  the  Commander-in-Chief  faced  the  situa 
tion  resolutely  and  made  a  wise  disposition  of  such 
troops  as  he  could  muster.  His  selection  of  Colonel 
Bouquet  as  the  leader  of  the  expedition  to  Fort  Pitt 
was  a  stroke  of  genius,  which  demonstrated  itself  on 
the  battle-ground  of  Edge  Hill.  Few  conflicts  have 
so  hinged  upon  the  strategy  and  resourcefulness  of 
one  man.  In  the  far  West  it  was  Amherst's  sagacity 
that  put  an  end  to  the  machinations  of  Pontiac. 
After  the  fight  at  Bloody  Bridge  there  was  no  imme 
diate  prospect  of  sending  further  military  aid  to  the 
beleaguered  garrison  at  Detroit.  In  this  predicament 
the  General  suppressed  the  uprising  by  an  expedient, 
more  humane  than  infected  blankets,  more  econom 
ical  than  arms,  and  more  effectual  than  either  or  both. 
The  Neyon  letter  both  dispelled  the  enemy's  hopes  of 
success  and  shook  their  faith  in  their  deceptive  friends, 
the  French.  On  this  occasion,  as  on  many  others  in 
history,  the  pen  proved  mightier  than  the  sword; 
but  seldom  has  it  been  the  soldier's  lot  to  wield  the 
conquering  quill.  Within  six  months  of  its  outbreak, 
the  most  formidable  and  extensive  Indian  war  in 


242  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

our  history  was  brought  to  a  successful  conclusion 
by  the  energy  and  sagacity  of  a  general  who  had 
almost  no  available  soldiers.  Few  of  Amherst's 
achievements  display  his  skill  and  wisdom  so  forcibly 
as  the  crushing  of  Pontiac's  rebellion,  yet  few  of  his 
deeds  have  been  so  unjustly  appraised. 


CHAPTER  XII 

FAVOR  AND   DISFAVOR 

MORE  than  five  years  had  now  passed  since 
Jeffery  Amherst  came  to  America,  but 
prolonged  residence  in  the  New  World 
had  not  diminished  his  longing  for  England.  In 
June,  1760,  he  had  been  careful  to  ask  Pitt's  permis 
sion  to  go  home  as  soon  as  peace  should  be  declared.1 
Montreal  surrendered  in  that  year,  but  the  world 
wide  conflict  of  nations  continued  until  the  signing  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  February,  1763.  Not  till  then 
was  Sir  Jeffery  granted  his  long-deferred  leave,  — 
and  then  only  on  condition  that  Indian  disturbances 
no  longer  required  his  presence  in  the  colonies.2 
Hardly  had  the  welcome  furlough  arrived,  when 
Pontiac's  uprising  still  further  delayed  the  General's 
departure;  but  in  the  autumn  of  1763  he  decided 
that  conditions  justified  his  return  to  England.  His 
task  was  done,  and  done  well.  Leaving  the  chief 
command  to  Major-General  Gage,  Amherst  took 
passage  on  the  sloop-of-war  "Weasel,"  and  setting 
sail  from  New  York  about  the  middle  of  November, 
looked  for  the  last  time  upon  the  continent  of  his 
many  victories.3 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  309. 

2  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  539. 

1  Calendar  of  the  Sir  William  Johnson  Manuscripts,  p.  190. 


244  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

The  General  had  not  been  in  England  many  days 
before  he  was  presented  at  court,  and  was  knighted 
in  person  by  his  youthful  Majesty  George  III.1  The 
newly  crowned  King  had  succeeded  to  the  throne 
during  Amherst's  absence;  he  was  twenty-five  years 
old  at  that  time,  and  though  by  no  means  a  fool, 
one  would  hardly  describe  him  as  "young  in  years, 
but  in  sage  counsel  old."  His  whole  ambition  was 
to  break  down  the  coalition  of  great  Whig  families 
which  had  ruled  England  during  the  reign  of  his 
"wise  and  unlovely"  grandfather.  His  chief  assets 
in  this  attempt  were  determination  of  the  kind  that 
is  likely  to  be  mistaken  for  obstinacy,  and  a  will 
ingness  to  corrupt  Parliament  in  order  to  achieve 
his  purpose.  Sir  Jeffery's  relations  with  the  mis 
guided  despot  were  various  in  the  course  of  the  next 
decade,  but  at  this  time  he  was  especially  smiled 
upon.  At  a  levee  at  St.  James',  in  the  last  week  of 
January,  it  was  noticeable  that  the  King  took  the 
late  Commander-in-Chief  aside  and  had  a  long  con 
ference  with  him,  an  attention  which  must  have  been 
disconcerting,  to  say  the  least,  to  one  so  unused  to 
royalty.2 

Although  Amherst  basked  in  royal  sunshine  during 
the  first  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  in  England,  he 
was  not  without  enemies.  Among  the  latter  the  most 
prominent  and  most  dangerous  was  Major  Charles 
Lee,  who  later  won  a  bad  name  for  himself  in  the 
American  Revolution.  It  was  not  many  years  since 

1  Nicolas's  History  of  Knighthood,  iii,  202. 

2  Gentleman's  Magazine,  January,  1764,  p.  42. 


FA  FOR  AND  DISFAFOR  245 

this  soldier  of  fortune  had  been  generous  in  his  praise 
of  the  General  under  whom  he  served,1  but  loyalty 
was  not  Lee's  long  suit,  particularly  when  anything 
could  be  gained  by  a  change  of  front.  Now  he  bent 
every  effort  to  stir  up  a  hornet's  nest  for  the  return 
ing  conqueror.  Just  what  Lee's  grievance  was  it  is 
difficult  to  determine.  It  may  have  been  that  Am- 
herst's  advice  upon  Indian  affairs  had  led  to  the 
injunction  in  the  Royal  Proclamation  of  October  7, 
1763,  forbidding  the  further  purchase  of  land  from 
the  Indians,  a  measure  which  seriously  interfered 
with  the  Major's  Utopian  scheme  for  creating  a 
military  colony  of  New  Englanders,  Germans,  and 
Swiss  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  This  possible  ground  for 
attack,  however,  is  hardly  consistent  with  Sir  Jeffery's 
attitude  towards  western  colonization,  for  at  an  earlier 
date  he  had  recommended  Detroit  as  a  proper  seat 
for  a  new  government.2  Whatever  his  complaint,  Lee 
plied  his  mephitic  pen  to  the  best  of  his  ability  in 
decrying  Amherst's  conduct  during  his  command  in 
America.3  Some  of  these  criticisms  appeared  in  print, 
and  the  late  Commander-in-Chief  was  advised  by  his 
friends  to  publish  his  instructions  and  orders  from  the 
ministry.  Then  Lee  turned  his  hand  to  less  open  war 
fare.  Knowing  well  the  difference  of  opinion  which 
existed  between  Amherst  and  Sir  William  Johnson, 
the  aggrieved  Major  wrote  to  the  latter  lamenting 
the  colonial  policy  of  the  Administration  and  declar- 

1  New  York  Historical  Society's  Collections,  1871,  p.  18. 

2  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report  V,  Appendix,  p.  217. 

3  Morgan's  Documentary  History  of  New  Tork,  ii,  808. 


246  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

ing  his  conviction  that  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  contrib 
uted  "all  in  his  power  to  continue  them  in  their 
errors  by  his  most  wicked  misrepresentations."  1  Like 
all  detractors  of  public  personages,  Lee  was  not  without 
a  party,  but  the  upshot  of  all  his  efforts  was  little  more 
than  a  temporary  bad  odor,  which  clung  quite  as 
much  to  himself  as  to  the  object  of  his  wrath. 

About  the  time  of  Amherst's  return  from  America, 
his  elder  brother,  Sackville,  died.  The  latter  was 
unmarried,  and  as  Jeffery  was  the  second  son,  this 
event  brought  the  General  into  unexpected  posses 
sion  of  the  family  estate  at  Riverhead,  in  the  parish 
of  Sevenoaks.  Although  his  income  was  not  large, 
probably  not  much  over  £3000,  it  was  adequate  to 
the  maintenance  of  a  more  pretentious  establishment 
than  that  which  had  suited  his  brother's  compara 
tively  obscure  life.2  The  old  seat,  which  had  been 
known  as  "Brook's  Place,"  was  torn  down  and  at 
a  small  distance  from  it  Amherst  erected  his  new 
house,  "Montreal."  A  contemporary  account  speaks 
of  the  building  as  "an  elegant  stone  mansion,"3 
but  Major  Kemble,  an  American,  who  visited  the 
place  with  his  brother-in-law,  General  Gage,  in  1774, 

1  Lee  Papers,  i,  35,  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society's  Collections,  1871. 

2  Amherst's  income  as  computed  in  1768  was: 

Government  in  Virginia  £1500 

1 5th  regiment  600 

6oth  regiment  200 

Paternal  estate  800 

Total  £3100 

Woodfall's  Letters  ofjunius,  iii,  155;  Grenville  Papers,  iv,  354. 

3  Universal  Magazine,  vol.  63,  p.  260. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAVOR  247 

was  content  with  calling  it  "a  very  clever  convenient 
small  house."  Whatever  estimate  they  formed  of  the 
edifice,  all  visitors  agreed  that  it  was  beautifully 
situated.  Mrs.  Boscawen  has  left  us  perhaps  the 
best  description  of  the  country-side,  as  she  saw  it  from 
a  neighboring  window.  "I  see  at  this  moment  such 
an  amphitheatre  spread  all  around,  first  gently  de 
scending,  then  as  gently  rising,  field  above  field,  and 
church  beyond  church,  that  it  is  like  the  map  of  an 
estate  laid  down  before  me.  I  see  Knowl,  Seven 
Oak  and  its  various  buildings;  and  Lord  Amherst's 
new  house  and  pillar  are  very  conspicuous/'  Such 
was,  is,  and,  let  us  hope,  always  will  be  the  aspect  of 
that  charming  part  of  Kent  where  Sir  Jeffery  estab 
lished  himself  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury.1 

The  "pillar"  mentioned  by  the  enthusiastic  Mrs. 
Boscawen  deserves  further  notice,  for,  to  quote  its 
own  inscription,  it  commemorated  "the  providential 
and  happy  meeting  of  three  brothers,  on  this  their 
paternal  ground,  on  the  25th  of  January  1764,  after 
a  six  years'  glorious  war,  in  which  the  three  were 
successfully  engaged  in  various  climes,  seasons,  and 
services."  The  monument,  which  resembles  an  obe 
lisk  rather  than  a  pillar,  was  appropriately  dedicated 
to  William  Pitt,  and  bore  upon  two  of  its  faces  lists 
of  the  battles  leading  to  the  conquest  of  Canada  in 
which  Sir  JefFery  figured.  It  is  about  thirty-five 
feet  high,  and  still  stands  upon  a  pleasant  eminence 
near  the  house,  a  lasting  memorial,  as  was  intended, 

1  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Mary  Granvillt,  etc,  v,  383-384. 


248  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

to  the  close  fraternal  friendship  of  Jeffery,  John,  and 
William  Amherst.1 

Although  the  General  had  not  wished  to  make 
America  his  permanent  home,  his  five  years'  residence 
in  that  country  had  introduced  him  to  much  that 
afforded  enjoyment.  Both  JefFery  and  William  Am 
herst  had  a  decided  interest  in  botany,  and  the 
American  trees  and  shrubs  seem  to  have  particularly 
attracted  them  by  their  variety  and  beauty.  During 
their  campaigns  the  two  soldiers  collected  seeds  and 
roots  of  many  kinds  to  plant  near  the  garden  at 
Riverhead;  the  exotics  took  kindly  to  their  new 
home,  and  the  part  of  the  grounds  in  which  they 
flourished  is  still  called  the  American  wood.  These 
trees  and  shrubs  were  not  the  only  New  World 
products  to  find  favor  in  the  Englishmen's  eyes. 
Apparently  William  had  acquired  a  taste  for  Indian 
corn,  and  a  consignment  of  it  was  shipped  to  him  by 
a  friend  in  America  in  the  autumn  of  1765.  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  whether  that  great  staple  of  the 
continental  colonies  prospered  in  the  less  genial 
climate  of  England.  American  apples,  too,  were 
sent  across  the  Atlantic,  and  even  game-birds,  when 
cooked,  bore  the  long  journey  without  spoiling.2 

While  Amherst  was  erecting  a  mansion  worthy  of 
his  social  and  military  standing,  another  indication  of 

1  For  the  text  of  the  inscription  on  the  monument  and  for  many  interest 
ing  details  concerning  the  house  and  grounds,  I  am  indebted  to  Earl  Amherst, 
the  present  owner  of  "Montreal,"  whose  friendly  interest  in  this  book  has 
contributed  much  to  the  pleasure  of  my  work. 

2  Aspinwall    Papers,    Massachusetts    Historical    Society's    Colleflions, 
Fourth  Series,  x,  539,  580,  et  passim. 


THE     OBELISK 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAFOR  249 

his  rise  in  the  world  appeared.  He  decided  that  it 
was  high  time  his  portrait  was  painted.  Accordingly 
Joshua  Reynolds,  already  the  leading  artist  in  Eng 
land,  was  engaged  to  make  the  counterfeit  present 
ment.  The  work,  begun  in  May,  1765,  now  hangs  in 
the  home  of  the  present  Lord  Amherst  and  is  indeed 
an  amazing  bit  of  fine  art.  General  Amherst,  clad 
in  the  armor  and  regalia  of  a  Knight  of  the  Bath, 
regards  the  landscape  with  great  composure,  in  spite 
of  the  fadl  that  in  the  background  the  rapids  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  which  the  painter  seems  to  have  con 
fused  with  Niagara  Falls,  play  havoc  with  the  troops 
on  their  way  to  Montreal.  Under  the  circumstances 
the  General's  serenity  is  surprising,  but  to  make 
matters  worse  his  untroubled  expression  is  accen 
tuated  by  a  pose  of  the  body  and  hand  which  would 
be  far  more  appropriate  for  a  poet  than  for  a  mili 
tary  man  of  energy  and  force.1  If,  however,  one 
blots  out  the  ridiculous  background,  the  mediaeval 
helmet,  and  indeed  everything  except  Amherst's 
head,  he  will  find  that  the  face  itself  is  strong  and 
satisfactory.  Its  chief  attribute  is  the  quiet  self- 
control  that  characterized  Sir  Jeffery  throughout  his 
career  in  America.  Reynolds  painted,  in  all,  three 
likenesses,  and  sketched  a  fourth.  Gainsborough,  too, 
tried  his  hand  at  portraying  the  General's  features; 
the  somewhat  characterless  result  of  his  labors  hangs 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Still  another  picture 
"of  the  King,  Lord  Amherst,  and  Lord  [blank]  at  a 
distance  on  horseback"  was  undertaken  by  the 

1  See  frontispiece. 


JEFFERT  AMHERST 

American  artist,  Benjamin  West,  but  the  writer  has 
not  been  able  to  locate  it  to-day.  In  July,  1779,  it 
was  in  West's  studio  in  an  unfinished  condition.1 
Last,  but  not  least,  the  ingenious  Wedgwood  im 
mortalized  Sir  Jeffery's  countenance  in  a  medallion 
which  is  preserved  in  the  National  Gallery  at  Edin 
burgh. 

The  services  that  Amherst  rendered  his  country 
in  the  Seven  Years'  War  practically  guaranteed  his 
steady  promotion  in  military  rank  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.  In  the  spring  of  1765,  he  was  made  a  lieuten 
ant-general,2  and  not  long  afterwards  his  friends  in 
the  Government  offered  him  the  post  of  master- 
general  of  the  ordnance  in  Ireland.  The  latter  prop 
osition  did  not  appeal  to  the  General  at  all,  in  spite 
the  fact  that  George  Grenville,  then  on  his  last  legs 
as  Premier,  insisted  that  he  was  "the  properest  per 
son"  for  the  office:3  Sir  Jeffery  was  apparently  as 
averse  to  Ireland  as  a  place  of  residence  as  to  Amer 
ica,  for  even  Pitt  tried  in  vain  to  get  him  to  take 
command  of  the  army  there  in  the  summer  of  1767. 4 
The  wise  General  knew  when  he  was  well  off  and 
would  not  be  enticed  from  his  hard-earned  enjoy 
ment  of  Sevenoaks  by  the  mere  promise  of  empty 
honors  away  from  home. 

Hardly  twelve  months  after  Amherst's  return  to 
England,  his  wife,  who  was  also  his  cousin,  died, 
leaving  the  General  without  heirs.  Two  years  later, 

1  P.  O.  Hutchinson's  Diary  of  Thomas  Hutcbinson,  ii,  309. 

*  London  Magazine,  May  1765,  p.  267. 

8  Grenville  Papers,  iii,  49-50.  4  Anson's  Grafton,  p.  157. 


FA  FOR  AND  DISFAFOR  251 

in  March,  1767,  Sir  Jeffery  married  again.  This  time 
his  bride  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Gary,  a  daughter  of 
General  George  Gary  and  a  niece  of  Viscount  Falk 
land.  She  brought  with  her  a  dowry  of  £10,000^ 
From  the  fact  that  Lady  Amherst  lived  until  1830, 
one  may  assume  that  the  General's  second  wife  was 
decidedly  young  at  the  time  of  her  marriage.  In 
later  years,  Horace  Walpole  dubbed  her  "White 
Pussy,"  but  whether  because  she  was  a  pretty  blonde, 
or  for  some  reason  best  known  to  himself  and  his 
correspondent,  Miss  Berry,  the  writer  cannot  say.2 

Two  or  three  years  after  the  Peace  of  Paris  gave 
England  undisputed  right  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  Gover 
nor  Franklin  of  New  Jersey  and  Sir  William  John 
son  planned  to  establish  a  colony  in  the  Illinois 
country.  As  the  Proclamation  of  1763  had  prohib 
ited  all  settlement  beyond  the  Appalachians  without 
his  Majesty's  "special  leave  and  license  for  that 
purpose  first  obtained,"  the  two  promoters  made 
their  wishes  known  to  the  Ministry,  Sir  William 
writing  directly  to  the  King's  advisers  and  William 
Franklin  enlisting  the  services  of  his  influential 
father,  who  was  then  in  London  as  agent  for  the 
province  of  Pennsylvania.  General  Gage  and  a 
number  of  Philadelphia  merchants  also  joined  the 
enterprise,  which  soon  interested  Lord  Shelburne  and 
seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  succeed.  The  petitioners 
asked  for  a  modest  tract  of  63,000,000  acres,  com 
prising  almost  all  the  territory  between  the  Wabash, 

1  Grenville  Papers,  iv,  354. 

2  Horace  Walpole  to  Miss  Berry,  March  27,  1791. 


252  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  Mississippi,  and  the  Great  Lakes,  an  area  occu 
pied  to-day  by  the  state  of  Illinois,  the  northern  part 
of  Indiana,  and  the  southern  portions  of  Michigan 
and  Wisconsin.1  The  project  could  not  have  had  a 
better  advocate  than  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  gave  it 
his  hearty  support.  Shelburne  was  easily  persuaded 
that  the  proposed  colony  would  strengthen  the  Eng 
lish  government  in  those  regions  where  the  French 
were  still  unenthusiastic  about  their  new  masters, 
and  might  prevent  a  revolt  on  the  part  of  the  inhab 
itants.  Furthermore,  it  would  be  a  growing  market 
for  British  goods  and  a  reassuring  barrier  against  the 
Indians.  These  arguments  were  fortified  by  letters 
from  Amherst,  who,  the  Secretary  declared,  was  one 
of  "the  best  authorities  for  anything  that  related  to 
America."  2  The  General  recommended  the  establish 
ment  of  further  new  governments  on  the  Mississippi, 
the  Ohio,  and  at  Detroit,  and  his  opinion  doubtless 
had  considerable  weight  with  those  ministers  who 
were  not  yet  committed  to  either  side.  With  such 
support  the  measure  was  presented  to  the  King  in 
Council,  by  whom  it  was  adopted,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  the  autumn  of 
I767.3  The  Lords  of  Trade,  however,  proved  averse 
to  the  plan.  Their  attitude  was  probably  due  to  the 
narrow-minded  counsels  of  the  President  of  the  Board, 
Wills  Hill,  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  who,  it  was  said,  op- 

1  Winsor's  The  Colonies  and  the  Republic  West  of  the  Alleghanies  1763- 
1798,  p.  38. 

2  Benjamin  Franklin  to  William  Franklin,  Nov.  25,  1767. 

3  George  Henry  Alden's  New  Governments  West  of  the  Alleghanies  before 
1780,  p.  19. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAFOR  253 

posed  the  scheme  for  fear  of  "dispeopling  Ireland/'1 
Of  Hillsborough,  George  III  once  remarked  he  did 
"not  know  any  man  of  less  judgment,"  an  observa 
tion  which  decidedly  increases  one's  respect  for  that 
monarch  as  a  judge  of  character.  At  all  events,  the 
combined  forces  of  Franklin's  shrewdness,  Shel- 
burne's  enthusiasm,  and  Amherst's  advice  failed  to 
achieve  what  had  been  almost  a  foregone  conclusion, 
the  creation  of  a  new  colony  in  the  Northwest,  and 
the  Ohio  Valley  continued  to  be  a  wilderness,  broken 
only  here  and  there  by  British  military  posts  and  the 
settlements  of  happy-go-lucky  Frenchmen. 

The  year  of  our  Lord  1768  was  one  of  those  periods 
in  the  course  of  human  events  when  the  social  atmos 
phere  is  surcharged  with  a  spirit  of  unrest.  Through 
out  the  English-speaking  world  a  wave  of  discontent 
and  disorder  dominated  society.  In  England  eco 
nomic  conditions  led  to  riotous  actions  on  the  part 
of  various  kinds  of  laborers.  The  year  was  hardly 
begun  before  the  weavers  in  Spitalfields  disturbed  the 
peace,  and  their  example  was  soon  followed  by  sail 
ors  and  hatters,  who  clamored  for  an  increase  in 
wages.  A  large  body  of  sawyers  tore  down  a  mill 
that  had  been  recently  erected,  while  even  the  coal- 
heavers  made  a  demonstration  which  threatened  to 
become  dangerous.  In  politics  the  same  spirit  of 
lawlessness  prevailed.  John  Wilkes,  an  undesirable 
citizen  if  there  ever  was  one,  returned  from  his  re 
tirement  on  the  Continent  and  stood  for  election  to 
Parliament  in  Middlesex.  A  few  years  before  this 

1  Sparks'  Franklin,  iv,  234. 


254  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

time  he  had  been  expelled  from  the  House  of  Com 
mons  for  libel,  and  outlawed  by  the  courts  for  failing 
to  answer  the  indictments  against  him.  Pitt  had 
called  him  the  "blasphemer  of  his  God  and  the  libel 
ler  of  his  King,"  but  the  public  continued  to  regard 
him  as  a  persecuted  man  who  should  be  upheld.  His 
reappearance  in  1768  occurred  at  the  psychological 
moment;  it  was  all  that  was  needed  to  pour  oil  upon 
the  smouldering  fires  of  discontent.  At  once  Wilkes 
became  the  idol  of  the  opposition  to  the  existing  order 
of  things,  and  his  election  to  the  Commons  in  March 
was  tumultuous  and  enthusiastic.  The  turbulent 
state  of  the  popular  mind  became  more  apparent 
when  the  adventurer  was  arrested  and  sent  to  prison 
for  outlawry.  His  trip  to  the  prison  resembled  a  dis 
orderly  triumphal  progress,  and  on  the  day  of  the 
meeting  of  Parliament  the  metropolis  was  turned  up 
side  down  by  a  riotous  mob.  In  America  economic 
and  political  grievances  combined  to  overthrow  the 
rule  of  law  and  order.  The  seizure  of  John  Hancock's 
sloop  "Liberty/'  in  June,  was  followed  by  a  riot  in 
Boston  so  alarming  in  its  proportions  that  the  Com 
missioners  of  the  Customs  made  the  fatal  mistake  of 
sending  for  British  troops  to  overawe  the  lawless  citi 
zens  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Such  was  the  psycho 
logical  atmosphere  of  1768,  and  perhaps  to  that 
intangible  cause,  rather  than  to  any  other,  may  be 
attributed  the  extraordinary  behavior  of  Sir  Jeffery 
Amherst  during  the  summer  of  that  restless  year. 

On  July  27,  1768,  the  anniversary  of  the  surrender 
of  Louisburg  and  of  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga,  the 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAVOR  255 

Earl  of  Hillsborough,  who  had  been  recently  appointed 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  indited  the  follow 
ing  epistle  to  the  unsuspecting  sinecure  Governor  of 
Virginia: 

SIR:  I  am  commanded  by  the  King  to  acquaint  you 
that  bis  Majesty,  upon  a  consideration  of  the  dispatches 
lately  received  from  Virginia,  thinks  it  necessary  for 
his  service  that  his  governor  of  that  colony  should  im 
mediately  repair  to  his  government;  and  at  the  same 
time  to  express  to  you  the  high  opinion  his  Majesty 
has  of  your  ability  to  serve  him  in  that  situation.  But 
it  is  not  the  Kings  intention  to  press  you  to  go  upon 
that  service  unless  it  shall  be  perfectly  agreeable  to  your 
inclination  as  well  as  entirely  convenient  to  you.  His 
Majesty  does  not  forget  that  the  government  of  Virginia 
was  conferred  upon  you  as  a  mark  of  royal  favour,  and 
as  a  reward  for  the  very  great  services  you  have  done 
for  the  public,  so  much  to  your  own  honour,  and  so 
much  to  the  advantage  of  this  kingdom,  and  therefore 
his  Majesty  is  very  solicitous  that  you  should  not  mis 
take  his  gracious  intention  on  this  occasion. 

If  you  choose  to  go  immediately  to  your  government 
it  will  be  extremely  satisfactory  to  his  Majesty;  if  you 
do  not,  his  Majesty  wishes  to  appoint  a  new  governor, 
and  to  continue  to  you  in  some  other  shape  that  emolu 
ment  which  was,  as  I  have  said  before,  intended  as  a 
mark  of  the  royal  sense  of  your  meritorious  services; 
it  is  a  particular  pleasure  to  me  to  have  the  honour  of 
expressing  to  you  these  very  favourable  sentiments  of 
our  royal  master.  To  add  anything  from  myself  would 


256  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

be  a  degree  of  presumption;  I  will  therefore  only  re 
quest  the  favour  of  your  answer  as  soon  as  may  be 
convenient,  and  the  liberty  to  assure  you  that  I  am, 

HlLLSBOROUGH.1 

When  the  Secretary  penned  this  letter,  Sir  Jeffery 
was  on  his  way  up  to  London  from  Yorkshire.  Ar 
riving  in  town  unexpectedly  on  Thursday,  the  Gen 
eral  was  informed  that  a  communication  from  Lord 
Hillsborough,  left  the  previous  day,  had  been  for 
warded  to  Riverhead.  As  there  was  disturbing  news 
from  America  about  town,  Amherst  went  at  once  to 
wait  upon  Hillsborough  and  learn  the  contents  of  the 
letter  in  question.  Upon  showing  him  a  copy  of  the 
document,  the  Secretary  did  not  have  long  to  wait 
for  an  answer.  Sir  Jeffery  declared  that  he  could 
not  possibly  go  to  Virginia,  because  Gage,  who  had 
served  under  him,  was  the  commander-in-chief  in 
the  continental  colonies.  Hillsborough  thought  that 
such  a  reason  was  hardly  valid  for  "a  governor  was 
always  the  superior  person  in  his  own  province,  and 
that  his  office,  being  a  civil  one,  had  no  relation  to 
the  command  of  the  King's  troops."  However,  as 
he  was  not  to  urge  Sir  Jeffery  to  go,  he  would  not 
pursue  the  matter,  but  he  wished  that  Amherst  would 
tell  him  how  much  the  emoluments  of  that  office 
were  so  that  the  King  might  make  him  an  annuity 
for  that  amount.  " Annuity!"  said  the  General, 
turning  the  situation  over  in  his  mind  and  speaking 

1  WoodfalFs  Junius,  vol.  iii,  pp.  117-118. 

2  Political  Register,  September,  1768. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAVOR  257 

aloud,  "An  annuity  is  a  pension;  the  word  pension 
is  grating  to  my  ears.  If,  my  Lord,  the  King  would 
bestow  upon  me  some  mark  of  honour,  or  something 
in  the  military  line,  I  should  be  happy  in  the  distinc 
tion,  but  a  pension,  my  Lord,  is  grating  to  my  ears."  l 

In  vain  Hillsborough  sought  to  soothe  the  irate 
soldier,  who  had  flared  up  so  unexpectedly.  He  re 
minded  him  that  Lord  Chatham's  pension  was  given 
to  him  for  his  magnificent  direction  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  and  that  Sir  Edward  Hawke  was  re 
warded  in  a  like  manner  for  saving  Ireland.  Why 
should  not  Amherst  have  a  pension  for  adding  Can 
ada  to  the  British  Empire?  What  was  the  differ 
ence  to  him  between  a  pension  out  of  the  revenue  of 
Virginia,  and  one  derived  from  the  four  and  a  half 
per  cent  duty  upon  sugar,  or  the  duty  upon  tobacco? 
But  the  more  his  Lordship  talked,  the  less  amiable 
Amherst  became.  He  merely  repeated  that  he  should 
dislike  a  pension,  and  bowed  himself  off.2 

The  next  day,  Friday,  Colonel  William  Amherst 
heard  at  Court  that  Norborne  Berkeley,  Lord  Bote- 
tourt,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Peers,  had  been 
appointed  governor  of  Virginia.  With  fraternal  inter 
est  he  forwarded  the  news  post-haste  to  Riverhead, 
knowing  well  enough  that  this  sudden  development 
was  not  likely  to  smooth  the  General's  ruffled 
feathers.  His  expectations  were  indeed  realized. 
Such  a  speedy  filling  of  the  office,  from  which  he  felt 
that  he  had  been  forced  to  retire,  convinced  Amherst 

1  Grenville  Papers,  iv,  349. 

1  Ibid.,  iv,  344-346;   Political  Register,  September,  1768. 


258  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

that  the  whole  business  was  pre-arranged.  The  rep 
utation  and  circumstances  of  his  successor  tended  to 
strengthen  his  conviction,  for  Lord  Botetourt  had 
attempted  a  bit  of  finance,  more  clever  than  honor 
able,  and  not  succeeding  in  it,  had  lost  both  his  for 
tune  and  his  good  name.1  His  pecuniary  status  was 
as  notorious  as  it  was  critical,  and  it  is  small  won 
der  that  Amherst  thought  that  he  had  been  turned 
out  of  office  in  order  to  provide  a  place  and  a  salary 
for  a  bankrupt  nobleman.  However,  the  General 
quite  overlooked  the  real  state  of  affairs  in  Virginia. 
If  he  had  viewed  the  transaction  coolly,  and  in  the 
light  of  recent  events  in  America,  it  would  not  have 
assumed  such  an  ugly  appearance. 

In  the  previous  April  Francis  Fauquier,  the  gay 
and  disreputable  lieutenant-governor  of  Virginia,  died 
in  Williamsburg.  At  about  that  time  the  Assembly 
of  the  Old  Dominion  alarmed  the  Ministry  by  ap 
plauding  and  seconding  the  sentiments  of  a  circular 
letter  from  Massachusetts,  which  set  forth  the  im 
portance  of  making  a  united  stand  against  parliamen 
tary  taxation.  The  obnoxious  missive  was  drafted  by 
Samuel  Adams,  and  though  couched  in  dignified  lan 
guage  it  was  by  no  means  ambiguous.  Soon  after 
its  receipt  the  Virginians  framed  a  petition  to  the 
King,  a  memorial  to  the  Lords,  and  a  remonstrance 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  stating  their  grievances 
and  insisting  that  internal  taxation  was  unconstitu 
tional.2  These  were  sent  off  to  England, — where  they 

1  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii,  103. 

2  Journals  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  14,  1768. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAVOR  259 

seem  to  have  caused  as  great  a  stir  as  would  have 
been  occasioned  by  a  declaration  of  independence. 
Clearly  such  a  rebellious  colony  must  not  remain 
long  without  a  governor,  and  Hillsborough,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  thought  of  the  impecunious 
Baron  Botetourt  who,  according  to  the  Secretary  at 
War,  was  "a  man  every  way  fit  for  the  business."1 
But  why  could  not  Botetourt  have  been  made  lieuten 
ant-governor  to  succeed  Fauquier,  leaving  Amherst 
in  undisturbed  possession  of  his  sinecure?  Appar 
ently  the  Ministry  felt  that  the  presence  of  "a 
Governor  and  a  man  of  great  distinction"2  would  do 
more  to  restore  order  in  Virginia  than  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  comparatively  obscure  lieutenant-governor. 
Amherst  was  just  the  man  to  go  to  the  province,  but 
in  case  he  declined  to  do  so,  Hillsborough  had  a  sub 
stitute  in  mind.  When  Sir  Jeffery's  negative  answer 
was  received  the  Secretary  tendered  the  office  to  Lord 
Botetourt,  who  snapped  it  up  so  quickly  that  the 
General  felt  sure  Hillsborough  and  the  penniless 
courtier  had  made  the  whole  arrangement  beforehand. 
To  show  his  indignation  at  what  he  chose  to  consider 
an  affront,  Amherst  threw  up  his  military  appoint 
ments  outright,  and,  encouraged  by  Lord  Albe- 
marle  and  other  malcontents,  did  his  best  to  create  a 
state  of  public  opinion  hostile  to  Hillsborough  and 
the  rest  of  the  Administration.3 

By    the    year    1768,    England    had    become    restive 
under  the  system    instituted    by  George  III  for  the 

1  Barrington-Bernard  Correspondence,  p.  164.  2  Ibid. 

3  Grenville  Papers,  iv,  341. 


260  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

restoration  of  personal  monarchical  government.  Par 
liament  was  controlled  by  neither  Whigs  nor  Tories, 
but  by  a  venal  band  of  political  adventurers  who 
sat  in  their  midst.  These  men  held  the  balance  of 
power  and  swung  the  vote  whichever  way  their  royal 
master  directed.  They  were  well  paid  for  their  ser 
vices,  —  so  well  paid  in  fact  that  George  III  found 
it  necessary  to  practise  every  economy  in  the  order 
ing  of  his  household  affairs.  Other  than  this  the 
employment  of  these  hirelings,  who  won  the  title  of 
"the  King's  friends,"  had  no  drawback  from  his 
Majesty's  point  of  view.  Thus  was  brought  about 
the  temporary  destruction  of  party  government  and 
the  re-establishment  of  an  active  kingship.  As  soon 
as  the  results  of  the  new  regime  became  apparent, 
many  of  the  English  people  felt  a  not  unnatural 
hostility  towards  such  a  government,  in  which  they 
were  not  fairly  represented;  and  when  the  Ministry 
and  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  fell  out,  they  were  quick  to 
make  the  General's  grievance  their  own.  An  ill- 
used  soldier  is  sure  of  popular  sympathy,  and  this 
one  found  an  able  champion  in  the  mysterious  author 
of  the  Letters  of  Junius.  The  affair  was  aired  with 
much  vituperation.  Amherst  was  as  lavishly  eulo 
gized  as  his  enemies  were  mercilessly  assailed  until 
all  London  was  heartily  sick  of  the  quarrel.1 

Meanwhile  Sir  Jeffe^ry  took  care  to  make  capital 
out  of  the  alleged  wrong  he  had  suffered;  his  resent 
ment  changed  to  a  spirit  of  bargaining.  Realizing 
what  prestige  his  reconciliation  would  lend  to  the 

1  Stopford-Sackvillc  Manuscripts,  i,  128. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAFOR  261 

none-too-secure  Administration,  the  General  named 
the  terms  upon  which  he  would  forget  his  troubles 
and  return  to  the  ministerial  fold.  His  demands 
were  indeed  surprising  for  one  who  had  so  slight  a 
grievance.  First  and  foremost  he  asked  for  a  peer 
age  which  should  descend  to  his  brother  in  case  he 
himself  had  no  heirs.  Secondly,  there  must  be  a 
compensation  equivalent  to  the  loss  of  his  salary  as 
governor  of  Virginia.  The  objection  to  a  pension 
seems  to  have  quietly  disappeared.  As  if  this  were 
not  enough,  the  General  also  stipulated  that  he  and 
his  heirs  should  enjoy  the  exclusive  right  of  working 
the  coal  mines  at  Louisburg.  This  grant  would 
doubtless  bring  in  sufficient  funds  to  enable  the  pros 
pective  baron  to  live  in  a  manner  befitting  his  ele 
vation.  Fourthly  and  fifthly,  Sir  Jeffery  demanded 
land  in  America,  and  pre-eminence  among  American 
peers  in  case  the  King  saw  fit  to  establish  such  an 
order.1  This  was  the  modest  bill  for  damages  which 
Amherst  presented  to  the  Prime  Minister  as  the 
grounds  of  accommodation,  and  it  quite  justified 
Horace  Walpole's  comment  that  Sir  Jeffery,  the 
newest  saint  in  the  Martyrology,  had  acted  too  little 
like  a  saint.2 

If  the  erstwhile  Governor  of  Virginia  expected  that 
all  of  these  preposterous  demands  would  be  granted 
by  the  frightened  Administration,  he  was  quite  mis 
taken.  The  Duke  of  Grafton  went  to  him  and 

1  Woodfall's  Junius,  iii,  114-115. 

2  Horace  Walpole  to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  August  24,  1768:   the  text  of  this 
passage  as  it  appears  in  the  various  editions  of  Walpole's  letters  is  obviously 
misprinted. 


262  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

answered  his  requests  in  the  following  manner.  A 
peerage  required  an  opulent  fortune  to  enable  the 
bearer  to  support  its  dignity;  this  Amherst  lacked, 
and  consequently  he  could  not  expect  to  join  the 
aristocracy.  As  for  a  recompense  equal  to  his  salary, 
he  had  been  assured  of  that  from  the  first;  but 
political  and  commercial  reasons  forbade  the  work 
ing  of  the  Cape  Breton  coal  mines  at  all.  He  might, 
however,  have  a  grant  of  almost  any  amount  of  land 
in  America  when  and  where  he  pleased.  The  fifth 
item  was  out  of  the  question,  because  there  was  not 
the  slightest  reason  to  expect  that  there  would  ever 
be  an  American  peerage.1  So  the  dispute  went  on. 
The  resignation  of  Amherst's  military  appointments 
was  accepted,  although  the  Ministry,  reluctant  to  see 
Amherst  bite  off  his  nose  to  spite  his  face,  stipulated 
that  his  successor  in  the  colonelcy  of  the  Royal 
Americans  should  give  up  his  office  whenever  the 
General  chose  to  make  peace  with  the  Government.2 
All  summer  and  well  into  the  autumn  the  miserable 
affair  dragged  on,  until  the  approaching  session  of 
Parliament  doubled  the  desire  of  the  Administration 
for  a  settlement  of  the  case.  Just  how  or  why  the 
altercation  was  terminated  no  one  knows,  but  finally, 
in  early  November,  the  General  was  suddenly  and 
mysteriously  restored  to  royal  favor,  and  the  recon 
ciliation  was  cemented  by  his  appointment  as  colonel 
of  the  Third  Regiment,  familiarly  known  as  the  Buffs. 

1  Woodfall's  Junius,  iii,  115. 

2  Bflvoir  Castle  Manuscripts,  vol.  ii,  p.  308,  in  the  Historical  Manuscripts 
Commission's  Report  XII,  Appendix,  part  v. 


FA  FOR  AND  DISFAVOR  263 

At  the  same  time  he  was  re-instated  in  command  of 
the  Royal  Americans.  A  few  months  later  a  grant 
of  twenty  thousand  acres  in  the  province  of  New 
York  removed  the  last  traces  of  hard  feeling  between 
the  soldier  and  the  King.1 

In  passing  judgment  upon  Amherst's  unpleasant 
relations  with  the  Ministry,  it  is  difficult  to  say  who 
was  in  the  right  and  who  was  in  the  wrong.  Clearly 
Hillsborough  acted  too  hastily  in  appointing  his  suc 
cessor;  also,  Lord  Botetourt's  disordered  finances 
cast  an  ugly  dye  upon  the  transaction.  On  the  other 
hand  Sir  Jeffery's  bill  for  damages  suggests  an  oppor 
tunist  and  a  social-climber  rather  than  a  man  who 
merely  wished  redress  for  injured  feelings.  One  bit 
of  evidence  in  the  General's  favor  has  yet  to  be  con 
sidered.  When  William  Pitt,  now  Lord  Chatham, 
racked  with  the  combined  tortures  of  gout  and 
neurasthenia,  resigned  from  the  Cabinet  in  October, 
1768,  he  took  pains  to  lament  "the  removal  of  Sir 
Jeffery  Amherst," 2  implying  that  this  event  had 
much  to  do  with  his  decision  to  leave  the  Govern 
ment.  Under  normal  conditions  one  might  be  guided 
by  Chatham's  sentiments  in  the  case  and  deduce 
from  his  displeasure  that  Hillsborough  was  more  at 
fault  than  Amherst,  but  considering  the  state  of  the 
man's  health  and  his  probable  inability  to  take  a 
rational  view  of  the  situation,  it  seems  quite  as  well 
to  leave  out  of  account  his  attitude  towards  the 
quarrel.  Pitt's  principal  reasons  for  resigning  were 

1  Afls  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  v,  596. 

a  Taylor  and  Pringle's  Chatham  Correspondence,  iii,  338. 


264  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

his  shattered  nerves  and  a  recognition  of  the  fadl 
that  he  was  no  longer  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of 
state. 

Although  Amherst's  timely  reconciliation  enabled 
the  Administration  to  face  the  opening  of  Parlia 
ment  with  some  degree  of  equanimity,  his  financial 
status  remained  pradlically  unchanged  by  the  settle 
ment  of  the  quarrel.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  he 
intended  to  avail  himself  of  the  first  opportunity  to 
increase  his  income.  Shortly  before  his  return  to 
England,  he  had  received  a  letter  from  Sir  William 
Johnson,  in  which  the  latter  remarked  that  he  hoped 
to  procure  for  a  friendly  tribe  of  Indians  some  of 
the  land,  claimed  by  the  Society  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Canada.  "And  I  am  of  the  opinion,"  he  wrote, 
"that  the  affair  may  be  made  very  easy  to  them, 
now  that  the  Society  is  broke  in  France  and  can 
consequently  hold  no  lands  as  a  body  —  their  grant 
becoming  void." 1  If  it  were  easy  for  "the  Coh- 
nawageys"  to  obtain  a  part  of  the  Jesuit  estates,  why 
would  it  not  be  easier,  and  far  more  appropri 
ate,  for  the  conqueror  of  Canada  to  secure  a  grant 
of  all  the  rest  of  that  confiscated  property?  After 
some  such  manner  must  Amherst  have  reasoned  in 
the  year  1770.  The  Jesuit  estates  were  indeed  a 
tempting  morsel,  for  they  included  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  acres  of  the  most  fertile 
country  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley,  almost  one- 
eighth  of  all  the  granted  lands.2  From  the  begin- 

1  Brodhead's  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  550. 

2  Munro's  Seignorial  System  in  Canada,  pp.  179-180. 


FA  FOR  AND  DISFAVOR  265 

ning  of  the  colony  the  French  government  had  been 
lavishly  generous  in  its  efforts  to  encourage  the  prop 
agation  of  the  gospel  and  to  increase  the  prosperity 
of  the  Reverend  Fathers  of  the  Society  and  Company 
of  Jesus.  As  land  in  America  was  more  abundant 
than  money  at  Versailles,  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV 
and  Louis  XV,  the  result  had  been  a  Jesuit  monopoly 
of  the  best  territory  in  New  France.  By  a  fortu 
nate  coincidence,  the  Society  was  condemned  by  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  just  before  the  signing  of  the 
Treaty  of  Paris,  and  suffered  a  general  confiscation 
of  its  property.1  This  unlooked-for  development, 
coupled  with  the  cession  of  New  France,  threw  all 
the  Jesuit  holdings  in  Canada  into  the  possession  of 
George  III  in  1763,  to  be  disposed  of  as  he  might 
see  fit. 

Aware  of  this  royal  windfall,  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst 
petitioned  his  Majesty  to  grant  him  the  estates  out 
right  as  a  mark  of  his  favor.  The  King  received  his 
plea  and  turned  it  over  'to  a  committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  for  consideration.  All  this  occurred  in  May, 
I77O.2  The  committee  passed  the  matter  on  to  the 
Board  of  Trade,  which  was  always  consulted  when 
any  business  affecting  the  colonies  was  under  dis 
cussion.3  At  first  everything  went  along  merrily 
from  Amherst's  point  of  view,  the  only  reservation 
to  the  forthcoming  grant  being  that  the  colleges, 
chapels  and  other  buildings  of  the  followers  of  Loyola 

1  J.  B.  Perkins'  France  under  Louis  XVy  ii,  222. 

2  Statutes  of  the  United  Kingdom,  43  George  III,  C.  150. 
*  Afls  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  v,  [150} 


266  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

should  be  retained  by  the  Crown  for  public  uses. 
But  alas!  in  the  spring  of  1771,  at  the  very  time 
when  the  Attorney  and  the  Solicitor-General  were 
busy  draughting  the  instrument,  Sir  Jeffery's  great 
expectations  went  the  way  of  many  of  the  best-laid 
schemes  of  mice  and  men.  A  petition  from  the  in 
habitants  of  Quebec  to  have  the  Jesuit  estates  devoted 
to  the  support  of  education  in  Canada  arrived  most 
inopportunely,  and  so  reasonable  seemed  their  plea 
that  Amherst's  request  was  laid  upon  the  table.1 
The  matter  fell  into  abeyance  temporarily,  but  the 
prize  at  stake  was  too  precious  to  allow  this  obstruc 
tion  to  end  the  game.  On  the  contrary,  the  contest 
for  the  possession  of  the  coveted  lands  had  only 
begun. 

While  the  pursuit  of  the  Jesuit  estates  in  America 
occupied  the  General's  attention,  another  source  of 
revenue  presented  itself  much  nearer  home.  Sir 
Richard  Lyttelton,  a  brother  of  Baron  Lyttelton 
and  a  cousin  by  marriage  of  Lord  Chatham,  died 
about  this  time,  leaving  the  sinecure  governorship 
of  the  Island  of  Guernsey  without  an  incumbent. 
The  office  was  singularly  like  that  which  Sir  Jeffery 
had  so  recently  enjoyed  as  titular  executive  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  post  was  offered  to 
him  in  th'e  autumn  of  1770.  The  adlual  government 
of  the  island  was  in  charge  of  a  lieutenant-governor 
who  led  a  forlorn  and  uncomfortable  existence  in 
residence,2  while  his  superior  supervised  affairs  from 

1  Colonial  Office  Papers,  42,  Vol.  30,  C.  27,  in  the  Public  Record  Office. 

2  Calendar  of  Home  Office  Papers,  George  III,  iii,  412. 


FA  FOR  AND  DISFAFOR  267 

Whitehall.  Amherst  accepted  the  office,  which  must 
have  had  a  sentimental  as  well  as  a  pecuniary  in 
terest  for  him,  for  his  old  chief  and  early  patron, 
Sir  John  Ligonier,  had  been  Governor  of  Guernsey 
for  a  year  or  two  in  the  quiet  interval  between  the 
Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  the  outbreak  of  the 
Seven  Years'  War.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Ligonier,  who  had  been  deservedly  raised  to  the 
peerage,  died  in  1770  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty- 
nine  years  and  that  Amherst  was  one  of  the  execu 
tors  of  his  estate.1 

Military  appointments  of  higher  and  higher  rank 
continued  to  be  conferred  upon  Sir  Jeffery.  In  Oc 
tober,  1772,  he  succeeded  the  disgruntled  Henry 
Seymour  Conway  as  Lieutenant-General  of  the 
Ordnance,  in  which  capacity  he  superintended  the 
distribution  of  guns  and  ammunition  to  the  various 
regiments  and  ships.  The  promotion  brought  with 
it  membership  in  the  Privy  Council,2  although  not  a 
seat  in  the  Cabinet.  George  III,  like  his  more  sol 
dierly  predecessor  on  the  throne,  was  heartily  averse 
to  having  any  one  of  his  subjects  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  British  army;  but  feeling  the  necessity 
of  having  some  responsible  head  to  the  military, 
from  this  time  on  he  recognized  Amherst  as  the  actual 
generalissimo  of  the  forces  in  England. 

Almost  a  decade  had  now  elapsed  since  Sir  Jeffery 
returned  from  America,  and  in  that  period  he  had 
received  both  smiles  and  frowns  from  his  Majesty. 

1  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Mary  Granville,  iv,  260. 
1  Ads  of  thf  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  v,  752. 


268  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

After  his  rehabilitation  in  the  autumn  of  1768,  the 
General  was  more  careful  in  his  attempt  to  walk  the 
tight  rope  of  royal  favor,  a  feat  in  which  practice 
was  fast  making  him  perfect.  One  example  of  his 
proficiency  is  particularly  characteristic.  In  Feb 
ruary  1773,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Gloucester 
were  in  town  for  a  while,  and  on  account  of  the 
strained  relations  existing  between  his  Royal  High 
ness  and  his  brother  the  King,  London  society-folk 
were  much  perplexed  whether  or  not  to  pay  court. 
If  they  went  to  Gloucester  House,  they  would  be 
identified  with  the  Opposition  and  would  probably 
fall  from  grace.  On  the  other  hand,  one  could  not 
be  sure  that  George  III  would  not  resent  any  slight 
ing  of  his  unconventional  brother.  The  Duke's  of 
fence  had  been  his  marriage  with  the  super-beautiful 
Maria  Walpole,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Walpole 
and  of  Mary  Clement,  a  pretty  seamstress.  It  was  a 
true  love-match  on  both  sides,  and  except  for  birth, 
the  Duchess  lacked  none  of  the  qualities  befitting  her 
station;1  indeed,  if  she  at  all  resembled  the  many 
portraits  of  her  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  her  graces 
must  have  dazzled  and  charmed  even  the  most  criti 
cal  of  beholders.  When  the  Duke  and  the  Duchess 
appeared  in  London,  the  leaders  of  the  Opposition 
hurried  to  wait  upon  them,  and  some  of  the  Court 
went  too.  Among  the  latter  was  Sir  Jeffery  Am- 
herst;  but  he  took  care  to  have  it  understood  that 
he  came  to  see  his  Royal  Highness  only,  and  when 
asked  to  see  his  hostess,  he  replied  that  "he  had  not 

1  Trevelyan's  Early  History  of  Charles  James  Fox,  p.  396. 


FAVOR  AND  DISFAFOR  269 

the  honor  of  knowing  the  Duchess,  and  therefore 
desired  to  be  excused."  1  In  spite  of  such  meticulous 
circumspection,  the  General  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  falling  between  two  stools,  for  when  the  King 
heard  of  his  attendance  at  Gloucester  House  "he 
bade  Lord  Hertford  desire  his  brother,  General  Con- 
way,  to  whisper  to  General  Amherst  that  his  Majesty 
disliked  his  going  to  the  Duke."  2  Such  was  the  pre 
carious  life  of  a  courtier  under  George  III. 

About  the  time  of  this  social  dilemma  a  letter  from 
Sir  Jeffery  provoked  a  very  significant  remark  on  the 
part  of  the  King.  The  subject-matter  of  the  epistle 
was  of  little  importance,  but  its  style  irritated  the 
monarch.  In  speaking  of  it  to  Lord  North  he  ob 
served  that  although  "coutched  [sic]  in  civil  terms," 
it  was  "not  without  that  commendation  of  his  own 
services,  which,  though  very  great,  would  not  be 
lessened  if  he  left  the  appreciating  them  to  others."  3 
His  Majesty's  words  were  well  chosen.  The  Gen 
eral  certainly  did  not  wear  gracefully  the  distinction 
he  had  achieved,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  King's 
sententious  remark  expressed  an  opinion  of  Amherst 
held  by  more  than  one  of  his  contemporaries  in  the 
years  just  preceding  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  her  thirteen  long-suffering 
colonies  on  the  continent  of  North  America. 

1  Horace  Walpole's  Last  Journals,  i,  175.  2  Ibid.,  i,  176. 

3  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  and  Lord  North,  i,  78. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 

THE  decade  following  Amherst's  return  from 
America  witnessed  a  serious  change  in  the  rela 
tions  between  England  and  the  colonies  that 
had  helped  her  to  humble  France  in  the  Seven  Years' 
War.  The  trouble  began  in  1764,  when  George 
Grenville  in  his  endeavor  to  be  an  efficient  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  inaugurated  a  commercial  and  mili 
tary  system  not  approved  of  by  the  American  col 
onists.  The  "New  Policy,"  as  it  came  to  be  called, 
comprised  three  fundamental  changes,  —  the  strict 
enforcement  of  the  trade  laws,  the  permanent  estab 
lishment  in  America  of  a  portion  of  the  British 
army,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  soldiers  in  those 
parts  by  direct  taxation.  There  is  much  to  be  said 
on  the  side  of  Grenville  and  his  coadjutors  to  justify 
this  departure  from  the  old  imperial  order.  In  the 
first  place  England  was  weighed  down  with  debt  as 
a  result  of  the  late  war,  and  every  economy  must 
be  practised  in  order  to  keep  the  ship  of  state  off  the 
rocks  of  bankruptcy.  As  the  customs  service  in 
America  cost  the  British  government  per  annum 
from  four  to  seven  times  as  much  as  it  yielded  in 
revenue,  it  was  time  that  steps  were  taken  to  remedy 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION     271 

whatever  leakage  might  be  found  there.1  Pitt  had 
unearthed  an  amazing  amount  of  illicit  trade  during 
the  war,  and  from  the  fact  that  many  revenue  offi 
cers  resided  in  England,  leaving  their  duties  to  good- 
natured  subordinates,  it  seemed  probable  that  evasion 
of  the  payment  of  duties  was  very  general.  The 
first  measure  of  reform,  therefore,  provided  for  a 
strict  enforcement  of  the  existing  trade  laws,  and  to 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  certain  additional  money- 
yielding  restrictions  were  placed  upon  the  commerce 
of  the  colonies.2 

The  proposal  to  quarter  ten  thousand  British  regu 
lars  in  America  was  equally  distasteful  to  our  ances 
tors,  who  felt  that  inasmuch  as  they  had  defended 
themselves  successfully  against  the  French  and  In 
dians  for  almost  a  century,  there  was  no  need  of 
an  unwelcome  standing  army  in  their  midst  now 
that  they  had  beaten  their  foes  to  a  standstill.  But 
either  the  Pontiac  War  or  the  gloomy  prospect  of 
half-pay  on  the  part  of  many  officers  made  a  deeper 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  Ministry  than  did 
the  logical  remonstrances  of  the  Americans.  It  is 
possible,  too,  that  the  moral  support  which  the  pres 
ence  of  the  military  would  lend  to  the  customs  ser 
vice  was  another  item  in  favor  of  this  part  of  the 
plan.  Unreasonable  as  was  the  resolve  to  establish 
permanently  an  army  in  the  colonies,  the  proposed 
method  of  supporting  it  was  even  more  so.  It  was 
hoped  that  the  invigorated  commercial  laws  would 

1  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  iii,  333. 

2  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii,  40. 


272  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

not  only  pay  for  that  branch  of  the  government, 
but  would  also  contribute  somewhat  towards  the 
support  of  the  military  imposition.  The  latter  insti 
tution,  however,  was  to  rely  for  its  maintenance 
chiefly  upon  direct  taxation.  This  was  to  take  the 
form  of  a  stamp  tax,  —  unless  the  colonists  could 
devise  some  more  acceptable  and  yet  equally  effi 
cient  method  of  raising  the  money  themselves.  As 
the  Americans  were  inclined  to  exert  their  ingenuity 
more  in  denying  the  constitutionality  of  parliamen 
tary  taxation  than  in  contriving  a  less  disagreeable 
impost,  the  year  of  grace  given  them  by  Grenville 
for  consideration  was  gone  before  any  satisfactory 
substitute  was  found.  The  colonists  were  so  bur 
dened  with  their  provincial  taxes,  which  the  debt 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War  had  necessitated,  that  they 
could  not  see  any  justice  in  this  additional  load. 
Very  naturally  they  questioned  the  right  of  Parlia 
ment  to  tax  those  whom  it  did  not  represent,  and 
were  easily  convinced  that  the  proposed  Stamp  Act 
was  unconstitutional.  Whatever  its  legal  status  was, 
the  hated  piece  of  legislation  went  through  both 
houses  of  Parliament  with  scarcely  any  opposition, 
and  received  the  assent  of  George  III  on  March  22, 

1765- 

Although  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  was  not  a  member 
of  Parliament,  the  radical  element  in  New  York 
believed  that  he  not  only  approved  of  the  Stamp 
Act  but  also  proposed  an  increase  of  the  military 
forces  in  America  in  order  to  insure  its  execution. 
The  Sons  of  Liberty  on  Manhattan  Island  gave  vent 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     273 

to  their  feelings  by  bearing  an  effigy  of  the  General 
at  the  head  of  a  procession,  and  afterwards  burning 
it  with  conspicuous  disrespect.1  This  was  one  of 
the  least  disreputable  demonstrations  against  parlia 
mentary  taxation.  Throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  colonies  objection  took  the  form  of  riots, 
personal  indignities,  and  the  destruction  of  property. 
In  Boston  a  mob  demolished  the  house  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  Hutchinson  and  made  a  bonfire 
of  his  furniture,  books,  and  papers.  In  all  parts  of 
the  country  those  who  had  been  appointed  stamp- 
distributors  hastened  to  resign,  and  it  became  very 
evident  that  the  Stamp  Act  could  not  be  executed  in 
America.  Less  noisy,  but  more  effective,  was  the 
protest  of  many  colonial  merchants  who  refused  to 
import  any  goods  from  England  as  long  as  the  meas 
ure  was  even  nominally  in  force.  Others  declared 
that  they  could  not  meet  their  obligations  because 
of  the  new  order  of  things.  These  actions  produced 
great  distress  among  British  traders  and  manufac 
turers  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  and  led  them  to 
petition  Parliament  for  the  repeal,  or  at  least  the 
modification,  of  the  New  Policy. 

In  the  meantime  George  Grenville  and  his  col 
leagues  had  fallen  from  royal  grace.  The  succeeding 
ministry  was  headed  by  the  Marquess  of  Rocking- 
ham,  a  Whig,  who  naturally  opposed  the  policies  of 
his  predecessor,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
became  the  burning  question.  Pitt  threw  in  his  lot 
with  the  Rockingham  Whigs,  although  he  doubted 

1  Montresor's  Journals,  p.  353. 


274  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

their  sincerity,  while  Benjamin  Franklin  preached  to 
the  House  of  Commons  upon  the  hopelessness  of 
trying  to  enforce  the  Stamp  Act,  and  upon  the  prob 
ability  of  a  rebellion  if  soldiers  were  employed  for 
that  purpose.  As  an  antidote  for  Dr.  Franklin,  the 
legislators  turned  to  Amherst,  whom  they  consid 
ered  equally  well-informed,  and  perhaps  less  preju 
diced.  The  suspicions  of  the  radical  New  Yorkers 
were  now  confirmed.  Sir  Jeffery  gave  his  advice  in 
no  uncertain  terms,  —  the  Stamp  Adi  must  not  be 
repealed.1  In  taking  this  stand  the  General  was  in 
accord  with  his  friend  Lord  Temple,  George  Gren- 
ville's  inconsistent  brother,  although  his  ideas  did  not 
at  all  coincide  with  those  of  Pitt  who  bent  every 
effort  in  favor  of  the  colonists.  Temple  and  Amherst 
were  on  the  best  of  terms,  however,  and  the  latter 
was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Stowe,  where  he  mingled  to 
his  heart's  content  with  lords  and  ladies,  dukes  and 
duchesses,  and  even  with  members  of  the  royal  family.2 
In  spite  of  Amherst's  opposition,  the  Stamp  Act 
was  repealed,  and  a  lull  in  the  storm  of  colonial  hos 
tility  followed.  But  Parliament  still  maintained  its 
right  "to  make  laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force 
and  validity  to  bind  the  colonies  and  people  of  Amer 
ica,  subjects  of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  in  all  cases 
whatsoever,"  and  acting  upon  Pitt's  suggestion  passed 
a  Declaratory  Act  to  that  effect.  The  Americans 
had  based  their  protests  against  the  stamp  duty  upon 
a  distinction  between  Parliament's  right  to  lay  taxes 

1  Grenville  Papers,  iv,  339. 

2  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  vi,  378. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     275 

for  the  regulation  of  colonial  trade,  and  its  newly 
assumed  power  of  laying  direct  taxes,  a  distinction 
upheld  by  even  so  thoughtful  a  statesman  as  William 
Pitt,  but  now  they  unconsciously  came  to  the  deci 
sion  that  parliamentary  taxation  in  any  form  was 
unconstitutional.  Their  new  contention  asserted  it 
self  when  Parliament  substituted  a  tariff  for  revenue 
in  place  of  the  repealed  Stamp  Adi.  All  might  yet 
have  gone  well  if  Pitt,  who  had  now  become  Lord 
Chatham,  had  been  physically  able  to  control  the 
course  of  politics.  As  things  were,  his  health  received 
more  attention  than  did  the  affairs  of  state,  and  while 
Chatham  sought  rest  and  recreation  at  Bath  his 
colleagues  had  things  their  own  way  at  Westminster. 
Tax  after  tax  was  laid  upon  American  imports,  and 
rigorous  measures  of  enforcement  made  evasion  of 
the  laws  impossible.  The  Americans  remonstrated 
in  vain,  and  when  the  lawless  part  of  the  population 
expressed  their  sentiments  by  making  merry  with 
the  Commissioners  of  Customs  in  Boston,  two  regi 
ments  were  sent  to  Massachusetts  Bay  to  intimidate 
the  citizens  of  that  unruly  province. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  British  soldiers  at  Boston 
in  the  autumn  of  1768,  it  mattered  little  in  what 
form  Parliament  tried  to  disguise  the  pill  of  unwel 
come  legislation;  nothing  short  of  a  complete  rever 
sion  to  the  old  order  of  things  would  be  acceptable 
to  the  colonists.  The  events  which  followed  were 
not  of  a  kind  to  improve  the  disposition  of  his  Maj 
esty  George  III,  or  to  make  firm  his  somewhat 
unstable  intellect.  A  bloody  fray  with  the  soldiers 


276  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

in  March,  1770,  kept  alive  colonial  animosity  towards 
the  Administration,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fa 
mous  Boston  Tea  Party,  three  years  later,  convinced 
the  King  and  Lord  North,  his  Prime  Minister,  that 
the  time  for  discipline  had  come.  A  series  of  re 
pressive  adls,  which  were  sure  to  cause  rebellion, 
were  passed  against  the  province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  particularly  against  the  port  of  Boston.  To 
quell  any  disturbances  that  might  arise  from  the 
execution  of  the  new  laws,  General  Thomas  Gage, 
Amherst's  successor  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
British  forces  in  America,  was  sent  to  Boston  with 
four  more  regiments,  while  a  threatening  fleet  of  war 
ships  blockaded  the  harbor. 

Gage  was  appointed  governor  of  the  province,  but 
in  spite  of  this  combination  of  civil  and  military  au 
thority  in  one  person,  he  failed  to  check  the  spread  of 
rebellion.  Indeed  he  had  not  been  in  Massachusetts 
very  long  before  he  advised  the  suspension  of  the 
legislation  of  1774  until  more  troops  were  available, 
for  according  to  Gage's  reckoning,  the  conquest 
of  New  England  could  not  be  safely  undertaken 
without  twenty  thousand  men  in  the  field.1  This 
estimate  was  quite  different  from  one  he  had  haz 
arded  a  short  while  before,  when  he  personally 
assured  the  King  that  four  regiments  would  be 
sufficient  to  produce  submission,  and  George  III  did 
not  like  his  general's  revised  version.  When  nearly 
a  year  had  passed  since  his  arrival  and  he  had  appar 
ently  accomplished  nothing,  except  to  seal  hermeti- 

1  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Various  Collcftions,  vi,  257. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     277 

cally  the  port  of  Boston,  and  to  unite  the  colonies 
in  their  common  cause,  General  Gage  decided  that  it 
behooved  him  to  do  something,  although  just  what 
did  not  particularly  matter.  In  April,  1775,  he  sent 
an  expedition  of  about  a  thousand  men  to  Concord 
to  seize  the  military  stores  of  the  Americans  in  that 
quiet  town.  Gage  succeeded  in  his  effort  to  do  some 
thing,  but  his  men  failed  to  disarm  the  rebellious 
colonists.  On  the  nineteenth  of  April  a  skirmish  at 
Lexington  was  followed  at  Concord  by  "the  shot 
heard  round  the  world,"  and  the  British  army  re 
ceived  its  first  drubbing  at  the  hands  of  the  embat 
tled  farmers. 

While  Gage  was  endeavoring  to  reduce  the  Ameri 
cans  without  committing  any  aggression  that  would 
cause  actual  hostilities,  Lord  Dartmouth,  Secretary 
for  the  Colonies,  and  Lord  North,  decided  that  the 
command  ought  to  be  given  to  a  general  of  more 
activity  and  decision.  John  Pownall,  a  member  of 
Parliament,  whose  brother  had  been  governor  of 
Massachusetts-Bay  during  some  of  Amherst's  most 
brilliant  campaigns,  recommended  that  Sir  JefFery 
should  be  sent  to  Boston  to  supersede  Gage,  and  that 
two  major-generals  should  accompany  him.  North 
and  Dartmouth  both  approved  of  the  scheme  and  in 
November,  1774,  they  made  up  their  minds  to  effect 
the  change.1  When  the  matter  was  broached  to  the 
King,  however,  their  plans  were  quite  upset,  for 
George  III  "  asked  who  could  have  thought  of  doing 
so  unjust  a  thing  to  General  Gage."  But  as  time 

1  Ibid.;   Hutchinson's  Diary  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  i,  299. 


278  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

went  on,  his  Majesty  changed  his  mind.  In  January, 
1775,  he  wrote  Lord  Dartmouth  that  if  matters 
across  the  ocean  became  serious  he  was  prepared  to 
give  the  command  to  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst,  whose 
presence  in  New  England  would  both  inspire  the 
British  soldiers  and  reassure  those  colonists  who  still 
wished  well  to  the  English  government.  General 
Gage's  feelings  would  be  saved  from  injury  by  his 
continuance  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts-Bay  and 
by  elaborate  explanations  on  the  part  of  the  Min 
istry.  As  the  King,  for  some  reason,  expected  that 
Amherst  would  beg  to  be  excused,  he  decided  to  make 
his  wishes  known  to  him  in  person,  "and  take  myself 
the  task  of  obtaining  his  submission  to  what  I  think 
so  essential  to  perhaps  preventing  the  effusion  of 
blood  in  that  deluded  part  of  my  dominions."  1 

On  the  last  day  of  January  the  General  went  to 
the  palace  and  listened  to  the  wishes  of  George  III, 
who,  in  a  private  interview,  was  "the  finest  gentle 
man  ever  seen,"  if  we  may  believe  Doctor  Johnson.2 
But  all  his  Majesty's  graces  were  in  vain  when  it 
came  to  persuading  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  to  go  to 
America.  With  real  regret  the  King  announced  his 
failure  to  Lord  Dartmouth.  "My  negociation  proved 
fruitless.  I  stated  very  fully  the  intending  to  send 
him  with  an  olive  branch  in  one  hand,  whilst  the 
other  should  be  prepared  to  obtain  submission,  but 
the  ground  first  taken  was  never  quitted,  that  noth- 

1  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report  13,  Appendix,  part  iv,  p. 
SOL 

2  Trevelyan's   American   Revolution,  vol.  iii,  p.  208;    Boswell's   Life  of 
Johnson. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     279 

ing  but  retreat  would  bring  him  to  go  again  to  Amer 
ica.  I  am  much  hurt  at  not  succeeding,  as  I  think 
it  bore  a  prosperous  aspecl:  of  bringing  those  deluded 
people  to  due  obedience  without  putting  the  dagger 
to  their  throats.  I  see  he  cannot  be  persuaded,  we 
must  do  what  is  next  best,  leave  the  command  to 
Gage,  send  the  best  Generals  that  can  be  thought  of 
to  his  assistance,  and  give  him  private  instructions 
to  insinuate  to  New  York,  and  such  other  provinces 
as  are  not  guided  by  the  madness  of  the  times,  what 
the  other  would  have  been  entrusted  to  negotiate."  1 
For  Amherst's  refusal  to  assume  this  important 
trust,  various  reasons  have  been  assigned.  The 
General's  gossiping  contemporary,  Horace  Walpole, 
sneeringly  wrote  that  "his  wife  dissuaded  him,  and 
he  gave  answer  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
command  against  the  Americans  to  whom  he  had 
been  so  much  obliged,"  and  upon  this  evidence,  ap 
parently,  Sir  George  Otto  Trevelyan  has  based  his 
assertion  of  Amherst's  grounds  for  declining  the 
command.2  On  the  other  hand,  George  Bancroft 
maintained  that  Sir  Jeffery  objected  to  going  to 
America  because  the  Ministry  would  not  give  him 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  with  which  to 
undertake  the  business  of  reconciling  or  subduing  the 
rebellious  colonists.3  Friendly  as  Amherst's  rela- 

1  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report  13,  Appendix,  part   iv, 
p.  501. 

2  The  Last  Journals  of  Horace  Walpole,  i,  432-433;  Trevelyan's  American 
Revolution,  i,  260. 

3  George  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  iv,  128;  but  this  author 
gives  no  authority  for  the  statement. 


280  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

tions  with  the  Americans  may  have  been  in  the  past, 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  lack  of  military  support  was 
quite  as  influential  as  sentiment  in  determining  him 
to  keep  out  of  active  service  in  the  approaching  war. 
Probably  more  potent  than  either  of  these  reasons  was 
his  disinclination  to  give  up  his  comfortable  leisure  at 
"Montreal"  and  the  congenial  atmosphere  of  London. 
It  was  General  Gage  who  boasted  that  four  regi 
ments  would  be  sufficient  to  restore  order  in  New 
England;  but  the  Americans  heard  another  version 
of  that  well-known  slur  upon  their  fighting  qualities, 
and  whatever  love  they  still  cherished  for  the  name  of 
Amherst  must  have  been  speedily  killed  by  a  report 
that  the  General  "had  said  that  with  5,000  English 
regulars  he  would  engage  to  march  from  one  end  to 
the  other  of  North  America."  1  It  is  well-nigh  in 
credible  that  a  soldier  who  depended  so  completely 
upon  a  large  force  at  his  command,  should  have  made 
such  a  rash  statement;  yet  the  newspaper  reporters 
were  not  content  with  letting  the  story  end  there. 
The  sequel  to  this  gasconade  was  an  equally  improb 
able  tale  that  when  Colonel  Washington  heard  of  it 
"he  declared  that  with  1000  Virginians  he  would  en 
gage  to  stop  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst's  march."1  Whether 
our  ancestors  gave  any  credence  to  these  rumors  one 
cannot  say,  but  it  is  clear  that  they  knew  that  the 
command  of  the  ministerial  army  had  been  offered 
to  Amherst,  and  that  for  one  reason  or  another  it 
had  been  declined.3 

1  Pennsylvania  Packet,  June  12,  1775.  *  Ibid. 

1  New  England  Chronicle,  December  7,  1775. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     281 

With  Jeffery  Amherst  discretion  was  ever  the 
better  part  of  valor.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  a 
recognition  of  the  futility  of  attempting  to  conquer 
the  Americans  by  a  land  war  was  responsible  for 
his  refusal  to  supersede  Gage.  If  so,  he  was  not 
alone  in  his  conviction,  for  General  Harvey,  the 
Adjutant-General  and  hence  the  highest  adminis 
trative  military  official  in  England,  declared  that 
the  conquest  of  America  "with  our  British  army" 
would  be  an  impossibility.  In  fact  he  deemed  any 
attempt  to  subdue  the  colonists  by  land  campaigns 
"as  wild  an  idea  as  ever  controverted  common 
sense."  1  Harvey's  prediction  of  calamity  was  based 
upon  the  geographical  arrangement  of  the  American 
provinces  and  upon  the  spirit  of  the  colonists.  The 
rebellious  parts  of  the  empire  extended  in  a  thin 
line  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  from  Maine  to  Flor 
ida.  They  were  sparsely  populated  and  contained 
no  capital  city  the  capture  of  which  would  give  a 
great  moral  blow  to  the  insurgents.  The  British 
occupied  successively  Boston,  New  York,  and  Phila 
delphia;  but  their  visitations  in  these  seaport  towns 
were  generally  more  hurtful  to  themselves  than  to 
the  Americans,  who  merely  surrounded  the  hostile 
army  and  made  any  further  invasion  of  the  country 
highly  dangerous.  Lacking  control  of  the  agricul 
tural  regions,  the  English  forces,  horses  as  well  as 
men,  had  to  be  supplied  almost  exclusively  from 
England.  When  an  exasperated  army  advanced  in 
land  with  the  hope  of  foraging  in  American  fields 

1  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  iii,  167. 


282  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

and  pastures,  the  farmers,  as  a  rule  quite  indifferent 
to  the  course  of  the  war,  rose  up  as  one  man  and 
gave  the  enemy  a  whipping  which  was  not  soon  for 
gotten.  The  fight  at  Bennington  is  perhaps  the  most 
striking  example  of  this  constantly  recurring  form  of 
disaster.  As  these  forays,  or  any  other  attempts  to 
march  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  always  endan 
gered  the  British  communications,  each  English  gen 
eral  in  turn  tired  of  attempting  active  campaigns  in 
America.  Foreseeing  these  formidable  difficulties*  the 
Secretary  at  War,  Viscount  Barrington,  advised  that 
the  operations  should  be  almost  entirely  naval,  be 
lieving  that  as  soon  as  the  foreign  and  coastwise 
trade  of  the  Americans  was  destroyed  the  discouraged 
colonists  would  be  right  glad  to  listen  to  almost  any 
proposals  for  conciliation.  Lord  Shelburne  of  the 
Opposition  appears  to  have  held  the  same  views,1 
while  Chatham,  a  few  years  later,  graphically  pre 
sented  the  hopelessness  of  a  land  war  by  exclaiming 
in  the  House  of  Lords:  uYou  would  conquer,  you 
say!  Why,  what  would  you  conquer  —  the  map  of 
America?  I  am  ready  to  meet  any  general  officer 
on  the  subject  [looking  at  Amherst].  What  will  you 
do  out  of  the  protection  of  your  fleet?  In  the  winter, 
if  together,  they  are  starved;  and  if  dispersed,  they  are 
taken  off  in  detail.  You  have  got  nothing  in  America 
but  stations."  2  The  truth  of  these  prognostications 
and  statements  was  more  clearly  proved  in  each  suc 
ceeding  year  of  the  colonists'  struggle  for  independence, 

1  John  Adams'  Works,  Hi,  315. 

*  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xix,  317. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     283 

and  whether  or  not  Amherst  held  such  sound  views  in 
1774,  it  is  certain  that  he  did  at  a  later  date. 

Although  Sir  Jeffery's  scruples,  his  wife,  or  his 
military  acumen  forbade  his  taking  the  field  against 
the  Americans,  he  continued  in  his  office  at  the  Ord 
nance  and  despatched  arms  and  ammunition  for  the 
British  forces  across  the  ocean.1  As  the  American 
Indians  had  been  the  bane  of  his  existence  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  so  now  the  American  privateers, 
who  swarmed  the  seas,  exasperated  him  by  playing 
havoc  with  his  attempts  to  supply  the  army  at  Bos 
ton  or  elsewhere.  One  day  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the 
exiled  royal  governor  of  Massachusetts,  met  the 
General  in  the  Park,  and  when  the  conversation 
turned  to  war  news,  Amherst  gloomily  announced 
the  capture  of  an  ordnance-vessel,  whose  cargo  he 
valued  at  £10,500. 2  This  was  but  one  of  many  mel 
ancholy  events  of  like  nature  which  made  Sir  Jeffery's 
duties  interesting,  and  also  aided  Washington  in 
driving  the  British  army  out  of  Boston.3 

In  eighteenth-century  England  the  conduct  of  for 
eign  and  colonial  affairs  was  entrusted  to  two  or 
three  secretaries  of  state,  each  of  whom  had  a  given 
geographical  jurisdiction,  in  which,  in  time  of  war, 
he  was  responsible  for  the  movements  of  armies  and 
the  progress  of  campaigns.  Thus  the  real  helmsman 
of  the  British  army  in  the  American  war  was  first 
the  gentle  and  well-meaning  Lord  Dartmouth,  who 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  i,  239. 

2  Hutchinson's  Diary  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  ii,  78. 
8  Irving's  Life  of  Washington,  ii,  109-110. 


284  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

resigned  his  uncomfortable  office  in  the  autumn  of 
1775,  and  after  his  time  Lord  George  Germain.  The 
latter  gentleman,  who  began  life  as  Lord  George 
Sackville,  deserves  more  than  passing  notice,  for 
among  the  negative  causes  of  American  independence 
none  is  more  conspicuous  than  he.  Born  within  a 
mile  or  two  of  Jeffery  Amherst's  birthplace,  he  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Lionel  Cranfield  Sackville,  the 
Duke  of  Dorset.  He  fought  well  in  the  war  of  the 
Austrian  Succession;  but  in  the  French  War  his 
military  career  came  to  a  sudden  and  inglorious  end, 
for  at  the  battle  of  Minden  in  1759,  when  ordered  to 
advance  with  the  British  cavalry,  Sackville  acled  in 
such  a  peculiar  manner  that  he  was  dismissed  from 
the  service.  His  demand  for  a  court-martial  only 
made  matters  worse,  for  the  judges,  rinding  him 
guilty  of  disobedience,  declared  that  he  was  "unfit  to 
serve  his  Majesty  in  any  military  capacity  whatever." 
George  II  completed  the  disgrace  by  ordering 
that  his  name  and  sentence  be  given  out  in  pub 
lic  orders  "not  only  in  Britain,  but  in  America,  and 
every  quarter  of  the  globe  where  British  troops  hap 
pen  to  be"  as  a  horrible  example  of  the  way  of  the 
transgressor.  It  seems  as  if  these  events  ought  to 
have  been  the  last  the  world  ever  heard  of  Lord 
George  Sackville,  —  but  it  was  not  so  to  be.  Chang 
ing  his  name  to  Germain  in  1770,  in  order  to  inherit 
the  lands  of  an  aunt  and  £20,000  in  money,  he  sud 
denly  became  conspicuous  in  Parliament  by  his  con 
tempt  for  the  American  colonists,  and,  in  1774,  by 
his  advocacy  of  extreme  measures  against  Massa- 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     285 

chusetts.1  This  attitude  won  for  him  the  favor  of 
George  III,  who  made  him  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies,  and  hence  it  came  about  that  one  who  had 
been  judged  "unfit  to  serve  his  Majesty  in  any  mili 
tary  capacity  whatever"  directed  the  movements  of 
the  British  troops  in  America  from  1775  to  1782. 

As  Amherst  was  the  Nestor  of  English  generals 
at  that  time,  Germain,  who  was  nine  years  his  jun 
ior  and  much  less  experienced  as  a  commander, 
turned  to  him  for  consultation  at  almost  every  stage 
of  the  war.  In  this  way  Sir  Jeffery  came  to  be  the 
recognized  military  adviser  of  the  Cabinet,  a  part 
which  he  played  well.  He  recommended  this  man's 
promotion  and  that  man's  leave  of  absence,  delay 
here  and  reinforcement  there,  until  it  seems  as  if 
the  Administration  never  took  a  step  without  first 
discovering  Amherst's  opinion  of  the  proposed  move.2 
Some  of  his  deductions  were  remarkably  good,  con 
sidering  his  distance  from  the  seat  of  war.  In  1777, 
for  instance,  he  assured  the  King  that  Washington 
had  never  had  above  10,000  regular  troops  in  the 
campaign  of  that  year,  although  including  the  mi 
litia  his  army  might  have  amounted  to  a  couple  of 
thousand  more,  an  estimate  which  proved  to  be  aston 
ishingly  accurate.3  These  services  bore  fruit  for  Am- 

1  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii,  14,  137-138. 

2  Amherst's  activities  as  consulting  engineer  of  the  American  War  may 
be  gleaned  from  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report  on  American 
MSS.,  Vols.   i-iv;    Report  on   Various   Collections,   vi;    Additional  MSS. 
(British  Museum);  Colonial  Office  Papers;  and  the  Miscellaneous  MSS.  of 
the  Ford  Collection  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

8  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  87. 


286  JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

herst,  if  not  for  the  British  arms,  for  in  the  spring  of 
1776,  Sir  Jeffery  was  granted  the  peerage  which  he 
had  long  coveted.  By  this  elevation  he  became  Baron 
Amherst  of  Holmesdale  in  the  county  of  Kent,  and 
henceforth  took  his  seat  among  the  peers  of  the  realm. 
In  the  meantime  the  war  against  the  colonists 
dragged  on  with  no  immediate  prospect  of  conclusive 
victory  for  either  side.  In  1776,  the  United  Colonies 
declared  themselves  free  and  independent  states,  and 
in  the  following  year  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at 
Saratoga  gave  the  Americans  their  first  tangible 
encouragement.  Since  the  very  beginning  of  colonial 
troubles  Amherst  had  served  two  masters,  Pitt  and 
George  III,  and  although  that  feat  is  proverbially 
difficult,  he  succeeded  for  many  years  both  in  pre 
serving  the  friendship  of  his  great  patron  and  in  being 
of  much  use  to  the  King.  The  great  test  came  in 
the  autumn  of  1777,  when  his  Majesty  strongly  sup 
ported  the  employment  of  Indians  against  the  Amer 
icans  as  the  mode  of  war  best  calculated  to  distress 
the  rebels  and  to  end  the  contest.1  When  these  vio 
lent  measures  were  proposed  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
Chatham  arose  in  wrath  and  demanded,  "Who  is 
the  man  that  has  dared  to  authorize  and  associate 
to  our  arms  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  of  the 
savage?"  This  question  was  but  the  prelude  to  a 
terrific  denunciation  of  the  Ministry  which  had  de 
based  the  army  by  infedling  it  "with  the  mercenary 
spirit  of  robbery  and  rapine"  and  familiarizing  it 
with  the  "horrid  scenes  of  savage  cruelty/'  until  it 

1  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  iv,  77. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     287 

could  "no  longer  boast  of  the  noble  and  generous 
principles  which  dignify  a  soldier,"  nor  "sympathize 
with  the  dignity  of  the  royal  banner,  nor  feel  the 
pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war  'that 
makes  ambition  virtue.'"1  The  speech  was  one  of 
the  most  dramatic  that  Pitt  ever  delivered,  but  it 
was  also  the  most  ill-considered,  for  not  many  min 
utes  after  its  conclusion  Earl  Gower  remarked  sar 
castically  that  it  was  strange  "that  they  who  had  the 
conduct  of  the  last  war  should  forget  the  means  by 
which  it  was  conducted,  and  now  condemn  the 
measures  they  had  formerly  authorized."  Indians 
had  been  employed  on  the  British  side  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War  and,  if  he  remembered  rightly,  treaties 
and  presents  had  cemented  the  unholy  alliance.2  For 
Chatham  the  situation  was  decidedly  embarrassing. 
After  floundering  about  in  a  vain  effort  to  make  a 
distinction  between  the  use  of  savages  as  scouts  and 
their  unrestricted  employment  "for  murder  and 
massacre,"  the  orator  assured  the  peers  that  his  ad 
ministration  had  never  justified  or  authorized  either 
of  those  measures.  For  confirmation  he  called  upon 
Lord  Amherst.  The  requested  testimony  was  some 
thing  of  a  surprise,  for  the  General  rose  and  con 
fessed  that  he  had  received  aid  from  the  Indians  in 
his  campaigns.  He  was  careful,  however,  not  to  im 
pute  any  sanction  or  knowledge  of  this  practice  to  the 
ministry  of  that  time.3 

If  Chatham  had   acted  wisely  he  would   have  let 
the   matter   drop   then    and   there,   but   within   three 

1  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xix,  360-375. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  410.  *  Ibid.,  p.  411. 


288  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

weeks  he  again  asserted,  and  this  time  with  noticeable 
petulance,  that  he  had  never  known  of  Indians  being 
used    as    auxiliaries   of  England   in   the   Old    French 
War.     Once   more   he   called   upon  Amherst   to  cor 
roborate   his    statement    or   to   explain   what    use,    if 
any,  had  been  made  of  the  savages  in  the  conquest 
of    Canada.     With    evident    reluctance    the    General 
arose  and  declared  that  the  English  had  followed  the 
example  of  the  French  in  resorting  to  this  expedient, 
but  he  was  sure  he  never  would  have  ventured  to 
do  so  if  he  had  not  received  orders  to  that  effect. 
Amherst  denied  his  lord,  but  under  the  circumstances 
how  could  he  have  done  otherwise?     He  knew  that 
Pitt  had  been  perfectly  cognizant  of  every  detail  of 
the  campaigns  in  America,  and  that  he  had  specifi 
cally  commended  the  conduct  of  "the  faithful  Indian 
allies"   upon   at  least  one  occasion.1     In  taking  the 
side   of  the   King   against   his   best   friend,   Amherst 
was   actuated   not   by   subservience   to   his   Majesty, 
but    by    the    truth.     The    Earl    of    Shelburne,    ever 
Chatham's  friend,  came  to  the  rescue  by  suggesting 
that  the  General  had  received  his  instructions  in  this 
particular  from    the    Board    of  Trade  and  not  from 
the    Secretary    of   State.     Chatham    grasped    at    this 
straw  and  requested  that  Amherst  would  put  an  end 
to  the  altercation  by  telling  the  Lords  of  his  orders 
and    whence     they     emanated.     The     response    was 
brief,    but    not    specific.     "I    was    desired    to    make 
treaties  with  the  Indian  powers.    I  was  charged  with 
it  in  my  instructions,"  said  the  General,  —  and  that 

1  Kimball's  Pitt  Correspondence,  ii,  345. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     289 

was  all  he  would  vouchsafe.  Pitt  still  persisted  in 
declaring  his  ignorance  of  any  such  orders  and  as 
sured  his  hearers  that  the  papers  had  never  passed 
regularly  through  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
Since  further  argument  was  futile  until  the  evidence 
was  presented,  Chatham  subsided,  with  a  final  re 
quest  that  Amherst  would  produce  the  disputed  in 
structions.1  It  is  significant  that  nothing  more  of 
them  was  ever  heard  in  the  House  of  Lords:  "the 
great  oracle  with  the  short  memory"  was  probably 
more  than  content  to  let  the  matter  sleep. 

Burgoyne's  surrender  and  the  apparent  apathy  of 
General  Sir  William  Howe  revived  in  the  Cabinet 
the  once  dashed  hope  that  Amherst  would  assume 
the  American  command  and  bring  the  dull  war  to  an 
early  and  brilliant  close.  Such  a  happy  expectation, 
however,  was  soon  conclusively  disappointed;  for  in 
a  royal  interview  about  the  middle  of  January,  1778, 
the  General  declined  the  honor  in  such  emphatic 
terms,  "though  with  every  expression  of  duty,"  that 
even  George  III  could  entertain  no  serious  thought  of 
a  possible  change  of  mind  on  the  part  of  his  disoblig 
ing  subject.  "Though  out  of  decency,  on  being 
strongly  pressed,"  the  King  wrote  Lord  North,  "he 
took  time  to  consider,  he  gave  no  room  to  expect 
he  will  accept.  Thus  I  have  done  all  I  could  to 
effect  what  the  Cabinet  unanimously  thought  the 
most  desirable  step."  2 

1  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xix,  507-512. 

-  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  119;  Hutch- 
inson,  Diary  of  Thomas  Hutchinson  ii,  180. 


29o  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

The  American  struggle  soon  assumed  a  new  aspect 
in  the  eyes  of  Englishmen,  for  the  success  of  the  col 
onists  at  Saratoga  persuaded  Louis  XVI  to  throw  in 
his  lot  with  the  rebels  with  the  hope  of  humbling 
all-powerful  England  and  of  restoring  some  of  the 
Bourbon  glory  which  France  had  lost  in  the  last  war. 
Rumors  of  such  a  development  were  at  large  in  Eng 
land  in  the  winter  of  1777  and  1778  and  did  not  tend 
to  increase  the  equanimity  of  Lord  North  and  his 
colleagues;  but  until  the  attitude  of  France  was  defi 
nitely  known  in  London,  the  Ministry  devoted  its 
time  to  the  discussion  of  plans  for  a  more  efficient 
campaign  against  the  Americans.  At  a  cabinet 
meeting  on  January  18,  1778,  Amherst's  sentiments 
on  the  conduct  of  the  hostilities  were  presented  by 
one  of  the  ministers,  —  views  which  he  may  have 
held  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the  struggle, 
and  which  were  certainly  strengthened  by  the  un 
productive  military  operations  of  1777.  The  Gen 
eral  believed,  so  it  was  stated,  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  reduce  the  colonies  effectually  without  an 
addition  of  thirty  or  forty  thousand  men  to  the  forces 
already  in  America,  and  that  under  the  circumstances 
a  naval  war  was  the  only  wise  plan.1  He  had  pre 
viously  expressed  this  opinion  to  the  King,  with  an 
explanation  "that  the  preventing  the  arrival  of  mili 
tary  stores,  cloathing  and  the  other  articles  necessary 
from  Europe,  must  distress  them  [the  colonists]  and 
make  them  come  into  what  Britain  may  decently 

1  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report  io>  Appendix  vi, 
§  162. 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION     291 

consent  to."1  While  the  ministers  were  cogitating 
the  proposed  change  in  tactics,  Lord  North,  made 
uneasy  by  the  probability  of  a  Franco-American 
alliance,  introduced  bills  of  conciliation  which  granted 
practically  everything  the  colonists  had  demanded 
in  1774,  and  appointed  commissioners  to  negotiate 
a  peace  with  the  Continental  Congress.  Among 
those  who,  because  of  their  "conciliatory  manners," 
were  suggested  as  bearers  of  the  tardy  olive  branch 
across  the  seas,  was  Lord  Amherst,2  but  the  ap 
pointments  were  given  to  men  of  less  reputation,  who 
coaxed  the  American  insurgents  in  vain.3 

On  the  thirteenth  of  March,  1778,  the  French  am 
bassador  in  London  delivered  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  a  note  announcing  the  treaty  of  friendship  and 
commerce  recently  signed  by  France  and  the  United 
States,  and  from  that  moment  the  wind  of  England's 
war  policy  blew  from  a  different  quarter.  Almost 
instantly  the  ill-defined  plans  for  the  year  took  shape 
and  were  placed  on  the  road  to  execution.  George 
III  at  once  sent  for  Amherst  to  ask  his  advice  upon 
the  conduct  of  hostilities  under  the  changed  condi 
tions;  "for,"  as  he  wrote  to  Lord  North,  "we  have 
not  a  minute  to  loose." 4  The  General  had  done 
some  earnest  thinking  in  the  last  few  days,  and  when 
he  appeared  at  Queen's  House  on  the  morning  of 
March  17,  1778,  he  had  reconstructed  his  plan  of 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  1 19. 

2  B.  F.  Stevens'  Facsimiles  of  Manuscripts,  374;  2   Rowland's  Charles 
Carroll,  i,  240. 

3  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  iv,  85. 

4  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  151. 


292  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

war.  His  advice  was  as  follows:  Withdraw  imme 
diately  the  troops  from  Philadelphia  (where  they  had 
spent  an  idle  and  enjoyable  winter),  and  station  them 
at  New  York.  Despatch  to  the  Floridas  as  many  of 
their  number  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  for  the 
security  of  those  provinces.  Make  New  York  the 
rendezvous  for  the  navy,  and  employ  the  fleet  in  the 
destruction  of  all  vessels  in  American  harbors.  (This 
measure  was  doubtless  to  prevent  the  rebels  from 
fitting  out  an  expedition  against  the  British  insular 
possessions  in  the  Caribbean.)  Finally,  if  the  peace 
commissioners  find  that  the  colonists  are  resolved  to 
continue  their  alliance  with  France,  then  evacuate 
New  York  and  Rhode  Island,  and  turn  those  troops 
against  the  French  West  Indies.1  In  short,  the 
United  States  henceforth  were  negligible;  a  great 
war  was  to  be  fought  with  France. 

The  effect  of  these  recommendations  and  of  the 
new  aspect  of  the  conflict  was  almost  electrical.  Gen 
eral  Howe  was  recalled,  and  Clinton,  his  successor, 
was  ordered  to  move  the  army  from  the  Quaker  me 
tropolis  to  New  York  as  soon  as  possible.  Before 
long  the  seaboard  towns  of  New  Jersey,  Virginia, 
and  Connecticut  felt  the  result  of  Amherst's  advice, 
in  the  destruction  of  their  shipping,  although  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  General  would  have  counte 
nanced  the  inland  forays  which  followed  these  drastic 
preventive  measures.  For  two  years  after  the  battle 
at  Monmouth,  the  entrance  of  the  French  into  the 
sphere  of  conflict  was  distinctly  reflected  in  the  ab- 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  152-153. 


THE  AMERICAN  RESOLUTION     293 

sence  in  the  New  World  of  military  or  naval  events 
of  any  consequence.  England's  chief  problem  during 
that  period  was  one  of  readjustment  to  the  new  war, 
which  was  far  more  complex  than  that  which  had 
baffled  her  from  1775  to  1778. 

Most  striking  of  all  the  results  of  the  French  Al 
liance  was  its  effect  upon  Lord  Chatham.  Up  to 
this  time  he  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  consis 
tent  champion  of  the  Americans,  first  in  the  Commons 
and  later  among  the  Peers.  Now  his  change  of  front 
was  as  impressive  as  it  was  spectacular.  In  the  spring 
of  1778  the  Rockingham  Whigs  proposed  that  the 
King  recognize  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  and  thus  avoid  the  impending  conflict  with 
the  House  of  Bourbon,  a  struggle  for  which  Eng 
land  was  conspicuously  unprepared.  When  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  made  this  wise  though  humiliating  sug 
gestion,  Chatham  was  at  Hayes,  recovering  from  a 
fit  of  the  gout  and  still  very  weak;  but  he  determined 
to  return  to  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  oppose 
the  measure  at  any  cost.  Against  the  advice  of  fam 
ily  and  friends  he  did  so.  On  the  seventh  day  of 
April,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his  son  William,  and 
supported  by  his  son-in-law  Lord  Mahon,  the  vener 
able  statesman  appeared  before  the  assembly  for  the 
last  time,  and  delivered  a  stirring  appeal  to  English 
patriotism.  Surely  the  nation  was  no  longer  what  it 
had  been  if  at  the  mere  threat  of  war  it  bowed  to 
the  will  of  hated  France  and  gave  up  half  of  its  pos 
sessions.  If  France  meant  war,  let  Britain  fight  and 
"if  we  must  fall,  let  us  fall  like  men."  American 


294  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

independence  was  out  of  the  question,  the  empire 
must  be  preserved  intact,  —  not  because  he  loved 
America  less,  but  England  more.  Thus  Chatham 
protested  against  the  dismemberment  of  that  "an 
cient  and  most  noble  monarchy"  which  he  had  raised 
to  the  summit  of  its  glory.  Then,  exhausted  by  his 
efforts  to  save  Britain  from  herself,  the  speaker  fell 
back  in  a  swoon;  and  a  few  weeks  later  William  Pitt, 
Earl  of  Chatham,  was  no  more.1 

The  dramatic  element  in  the  great  statesman's 
last  speech  is  only  equalled  by  its  poetic  justice  in 
relation  to  Jeffery  Amherst.  Although  the  two  men 
had  differed  from  the  outset  in  their  views  concern 
ing  the  proper  administration  of  the  colonies,  the 
French  alliance  swept  them  together  again,  and  prob 
ably  no  words  of  the  General's  could  have  better 
expressed  his  sentiments  in  1778  than  those  uttered 
by  his  dying  patron  and  friend.  At  last,  Amherst, 
Chatham,  and  George  III  were  at  one  in  their  atti 
tude  towards  the  American  War. 

1  In  his  celebrated  pidhire  of  this  stirring  moment,  Copley  has  incidentally 
given  us  a  portrait  of  Amherst.  When  the  Duke  of  Kent  was  in  America 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  remarked  to  Abiel  Holmes, 
the  father  of  the  Boston  humorist,  that  this  particular  likeness  of  the  General 
was  excellent.  Holmes'  Annals  of  America  (Cambridge,  1829),  ii,  413, 
note  2. 


X 

4! 


o 

t 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    BOURBON   ARMADA 

THE  prospect  of  war  with  France  afforded  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester  an  opportunity  to  show 
his  brother,  the  King,  that  although  guilty  of 
an  unconventional  marriage  he  was  none  the  less  a 
valiant  warrior  when  his  country  was  in  danger. 
Coming  up  to  London  quite  unexpectedly,  he  offered 
his  services  to  George  III  and  awaited  developments. 
Probably  nothing  could  have  been  more  annoying 
to  the  Ministry,  for  on  the  preceding  day  they  had 
decided  to  force  the  King  to  appoint  Lord  Amherst 
commander-in-chief  of  all  the  British  forces  in  Eng 
land.  The  Duke,  although  a  soldier  only  in  name, 
doubtless  expected  that  the  office  would  be  given  to 
him,  and  consequently  his  appearance  on  the  scene 
was  anything  but  welcome.1  Gallant  as  was  the 
offer  of  his  Royal  Highness,  George  III  had  not  yet 
entirely  forgiven  his  brother  for  marrying  the  Count 
ess  Waldegrave.  Consequently  he  ignored  the  Duke's 
letter,  and  gave  the  command  to  Amherst  on  March 
24,  i?78.2 

As    commander-in-chief    of    all    British    forces    in 
England   Amherst's   duties   were   much   the   same    as 

1  Walpole's  Last  Journals,  ii,  151. 

2  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  March,  1778,  p.  140. 


296  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

they  had  been  during  the  last  six  years;  but  the  fadl 
that  the  King  at  last  recognized  him  as  the  head  of 
the  military  establishment  restored  to  some  extent 
the  spirits  of  the  army  officers  and  of  the  people  in 
general.  James  Murray,  who  was  leading  a  tranquil 
life  as  lieutenant-governor  of  Minorca,  thought  that 
Providence  had  prevented  Amherst's  accepting  the 
American  command  in  order  that  he  might  save  Eng 
land  in  this  hour  of  distress,  and  declared  that  he  was 
"the  fittest  person  for  the  great  task"  to  which  he 
had  been  called.1  Lord  Barrington  was  less  san 
guine,  however,  and  in  an  amazingly  frank  interview 
with  the  King  he  told  the  latter  that  there  was  "not 
one  general  in  whom  his  Majesty,  the  nation,  or  the 
army  would  place  confidence  in  case  of  the  invasion 
of  Great  Britain  or  Ireland."  To  remedy  this  defi 
ciency  the  outspoken  Secretary  suggested  that  Prince 
Ferdinand  be  induced  to  come  to  England  to  take 
charge  of  military  affairs  until  the  crisis  was  passed.2 
Lord  Chatham  had  entertained  the  same  idea,  and  if 
his  strength  had  held  out  after  his  speech  on  April 
7,  he  would  have  proposed  this  very  measure  to  the 
House  of  Lords.3  Lord  North  even  made  a  gloomy 
little  joke  about  the  general  officers,  saying  that  he 
did  not  know  whether  they  would  frighten  the  enemy, 
but  he  was  sure  they  frightened  him  whenever  he 
thought  of  them;4  and  it  is  very  clear  that  in  spite 

1  Stopford-Sackville  Manuscripts,  i,  372. 

s  Shute  Barrington's  Political  Life  of  William  Wildman,  Viscount  Bar 
rington,  pp.  186-187. 

8  Walpole's  Last  Journals,  ii,  160. 

4  Barrington's  Life  of  Barrington,  p.  185. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA          297 

of  Amherst's  appointment,  all  England  was  shaking 
in  its  shoes  in  the  spring  of  1778. 1 

As  affairs  became  more  serious,  the  King  and  his 
perplexed  ministers  became  correspondingly  more  de 
pendent  upon  Lord  Amherst  for  advice  and  encour 
agement,  and  the  General,  as  commander-in-chief, 
became  a  very  important  member  of  the  Privy 
Council.  The  meetings  of  that  body  in  the  reign  of 
George  III  were  as  uninspiring  affairs  as  one  might 
have  expected  from  a  collection  of  subservient,  sec 
ond-rate  politicians,  who  could  never  quite  make  up 
their  minds  to  tell  the  King  of  the  folly  of  his  auto 
cratic  system,  nor  to  resign  when  they  knew  that 
they  were  clogging  the  wheels  of  England's  progress. 
At  one  of  these  sessions,  which  was  held  in  the  face 
of  a  critical  juncture  in  international  relations,  Lord 
North  fell  asleep  as  soon  as  the  business  was  opened; 
another  minister  followed  suit,  while  Lord  Hills- 
borough  nodded  and  dropped  his  hat.  Sandwich, 
First  Lord  of  Admiralty,  who  was  described  by  one 
of  his  contemporaries  as 

"  Too  infamous  to  have  a  friend; 
Too  bad  for  bad  men  to  commend" 

dozed  at  first,  but  later  rubbed  his  eyes  and  seemed 
attentive.  Amherst,  be  it  said  to  his  credit,  "kept 
awake,  but  said  nothing."  Indeed  only  Lord  George 
Germain  and  two  of  his  colleagues  paid  any  atten 
tion  to  the  reading  of  important  despatches,  while 
the  rest,  when  they  awoke,  merely  approved  of  what 

1  Ibid.,  p.  187. 


298  JEFFERY  AMHERST 

was  proposed.1  Sometimes  the  King  sat  at  the  head 
of  the  table  and  presided  over  the  meetings,  asking 
his  counsellors,  one  by  one,  for  their  advice.  On  such 
occasions  Amherst  as  the  youngest  member  present 
usually  spoke  first,  and  it  is  to  be  suspected  that  in 
the  presence  of  his  Majesty  more  attention  was  paid 
to  the  affairs  of  state  than  when  the  Cabinet  Council 
was  left  to  its  own  devices.2 

Much  as  Amherst  may  have  enjoyed  the  doubtful 
distinction  of  being  one  of  the  inner  circle  of  the 
King's  advisers,  he  was  obliged  now  and  then  to  lis 
ten  to  harsh  words  of  criticism  from  some  of  his 
contemporaries.  Once  when  George  III  went  to 
see  a  fleet  depart  for  America,  Admiral  Keppel  was 
embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  the  ships  were  not 
ready,  and  he  "spoke  out  very  plain  English  before 
Lords  Sandwich  and  Amherst  upon  naval  equipments, 
the  state  of  the  fleet  and  the  supply  of  ordnance, 
stores,  and  supplies."  3  For  the  ordnance,  at  least, 
the  General  was  responsible  and  as  the  King  gave 
"all  possible  attention  to  Keppel's  sentiments,  facts, 
and  ideas,"  his  Lordship  was  "not  absolutely  happy 
at  quite  so  much  openness,"  and  with  good  reason. 

1  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission's  Report,  "Various  Collections," 
vi,  271. 

Another  contemporary  wrote,  "  Even  at  the  Cabinet  dinners,  which  were 
held  weekly,  I  have  heard  Lord  Sackville  say  that,  though  he  [Amherst] 
usually  gave  his  decided  affirmative  or  negative  to  the  specific  measures 
proposed,  yet  he  always  did  it  in  few  words,  often  by  a  monosyllable,  but 
never  could,  without  great  difficulty,  be  induced  to  assign  the  reasons  or 
to  state  the  grounds  of  his  opinion."  Wraxall's  Historical  Memoirs,  i, 
407. 

*  Ibid.,    vi,    272.  8  B.  F.  Stevens'  Facsimiles,  513*. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  299 

In  spite  of  an  occasional  display  of  carelessness  or 
incompetence,  Lord  Amherst  continued  in  high  favor 
with  his  Majesty.  Evidence  of  this  blessing  was 
given  in  the  autumn  of  1778  when  the  King  and 
Queen,  on  their  way  to  the  camp  at  Cox  Heath, 
stayed  over  night  at  "Montreal."  The  royal  pair 
and  their  attendants  were  escorted  by  detachments 
of  dragoons,  and  when  the  cavalcade  arrived  at  Lord 
Amherst's  lodge  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
"a  very  great  concourse  of  people"  was  there,  "to 
see  their  Majesties  as  they  passed."  In  the  even 
ing  illuminations  at  "Montreal"  and  throughout  the 
neighborhood,  "together  with  the  ringing  of  bells, 
and  other  public  demonstrations  of  joy,  testified 
the  happiness  of  the  inhabitants  of  all  ranks"  upon 
this  dazzling  occasion.  Nor  were  the  efforts  of  the 
citizens  to  impress  his  Majesty  with  their  loyalty  in 
vain;  on  the  morrow  the  King  "was  pleased  to  give 
a  sum  of  money  to  be  distributed  to  the  poor  and 
distressed  families  of  the  parish  of  Sevenoaks,  and 
for  the  bell-ringers."  When  the  King  and  Queen 
resumed  their  journey,  Lord  and  Lady  Amherst 
accompanied  them,  and  as  they  passed  through  the 
village,  the  procession  halted  in  front  of  the  school, 
while  the  master  made  a  short  address  to  George 
III.1  So  gracious  was  the  sovereign  that  it  seems 
as  if  a  presidential  candidate  in  the  United  States 
could  hardly  outdo  him  in  his  efforts  to  win  popu 
larity  by  flattering  his  constituents  in  this  trite  but 
ever  successful  manner. 

1  Universal  Magazine,  November,  1778,  p.  252. 


300  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Now  and  then  Amherst  was  used  as  a  royal  whip 
in  disciplining  those  of  "the  King's  friends "  who 
showed  dangerous  signs  of  negligence.  George  Ill's 
language  was  very  elegant  when  he  wrote  to  Lord 
North  that  the  attention  of  certain  members  "must 
be  quickened,"  but  the  result  of  the  marshalling 
would  do  credit  to  the  most  autocratic  political  boss 
of  to-day.1  Amherst  wrote  letters  to  this  member 
and  to  that,  reminding  them  of  their  duty  to  his 
Majesty,  and  thus  made  possible  the  "handsome 
majorities"  which  carried  England  further  and  fur 
ther  towards  destruction.  These  services  were  re 
warded  by  another  military  appointment  calculated 
to  increase  Lord  Amherst's  income  without  adding 
to  his  duties.  On  April  21,  1779,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  became  also  colonel  of  the  Second  Troop  of 
Horse  Grenadier  Guards.2 

England's  fears  of  a  French  invasion  in  1778  proved 
groundless;  but  when  Spain  joined  hands  with  her 
Bourbon  neighbor  in  June  of  the  following  year  and 
declared  war  upon  Britain,  renewed  and  redoubled 
trepidation  took  possession  of  the  English  people. 
What  the  Spanish  Armada  had  failed  to  achieve  two 
centuries  before  was  surely  going  to  be  accomplished 
now  by  a  Bourbon  fleet,  for  the  French  navy  had 
grown  rapidly  in  recent  years  and  in  combination 
with  that  of  Spain  its  large  ships  outnumbered  the 
British  men-of-war  by  almost  two  to  one.3  In  the 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  238-239. 
*  Cannon's  Third  Regiment  of  Foot,  pp.  189-190. 
3  Channing's  United  States,  iii,  28811. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA          301 

face  of  so  great  a  peril  the  government  exerted  itself 
strenuously.  Vigorous  measures  of  defence  were  ob 
viously  necessary,  and  to  supply  them  a  scheme  of 
drafting  30,000  men  was  proposed.  This  was  a  part 
of  the  Militia  Bill  of  1779.  It  passed  the  House  of 
Commons  with  comparative  ease,  but  in  the  Lords 
the  radical  Whigs  violently  assailed  it.  The  Duke 
of  Richmond  was  as  usual  the  chief  leader  of  the 
Opposition,  and  his  remarks  led  Amherst  to  break 
his  accustomed  silence,  and  to  make  one  of  the 
few  speeches  he  ever  attempted.  The  General  pro 
nounced  the  nation  so  situated  that  it  would  be  im 
possible  for  England  to  carry  on  an  offensive  war 
with  success.  As  for  defence,  if  Britain  had  ten  to 
one  more  than  the  enemy  it  behooved  her  to  make 
the  ratio  twenty  to  one.1  No  words  could  have  been 
more  characteristic  of  the  slow  and  steady  soldier. 
When  Richmond  asked  for  arguments  to  support 
such  a  contention  Lord  Amherst  replied  that  recent 
attempts  to  recruit  the  army  had  not  been  so  suc 
cessful  as  formerly:  England  needed  more  fighting 
men  at  once,  and  as  the  measure  under  discussion 
was  a  certain  means  of  obtaining  them,  he  was  for 
it.  His  sentiments,  however,  did  not  prevail  among 
the  peers,  and  this  part  of  the  Militia  Bill  had  to  be 
dropped,  although  correspondingly  extreme  measures 
for  manning  the  ships  of  the  navy  went  through  both 
Houses  and  received  the  royal  assent.2 

A  wave  of  patriotism  and  military  zeal  swept  over 

1  Almon's  Parliamentary  Register,  xiv,  569. 

2  Mahon's  History  of  England,  vi,  401-403. 


302  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

England.  A  large  encampment  of  militia  compa 
nies  was  made  at  Cox  Heath,  near  Maidstone,  where 
many  counties  were  represented,  while  members  of 
the  aristocracy  and  other  individuals  offered  to  raise, 
at  their  own  expense,  regiments  or  smaller  bodies  of 
soldiers  for  the  defence  of  their  threatened  country.1 
Plymouth  Harbor  was  closed  to  navigation,  and  at 
Portsmouth  a  line  of  batteries  bade  defiance  to  the 
enemy.  On  the  ninth  day  of  July  a  royal  proclama 
tion  was  issued  charging  all  officers,  civil  as  well  as 
military,  to  cause  horses,  cattle  and  provisions  to  be 
driven  or  conveyed  inland  from  the  coast  in  case  of 
actual  invasion.  To  use  his  own  words,  George  III 
intended  that  if  the  French  landed  troops  on  English 
soil  they  should  "have  thorough  reason  to  repent  of 
their  temerity."  2 

While  Britain's  activities  recalled  the  days  of  1588, 
formidable  offensive  preparations  were  being  made 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel.  A  French  army 
of  about  fifty  thousand  men  was  marching  to  the 
west  coast,  with  the  prospect  of  being  transported 
to  the  shores  of  England  as  soon  as  the  Bourbon 
fleet  cleared  the  way.  French  men-of-war  left  Brest 
and  soon  united  with  those  of  Spain:  together  they 
numbered  sixty-six  sail  of  the  line,  not  counting  the 
train  of  frigates  and  small  vessels  which  attended 
them.  For  several  weeks  they  cruised  oflF  the  Eng 
lish  coast,  appearing  most  often  in  front  of  Plymouth 
and  keeping  the  inhabitants  in  a  constant  state  of 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  265,  274. 

2  Ibid.,  ii,  271. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  303 

apprehension.  Against  this  naval  Goliath  England 
sent  out  Sir  Charles  Hardy  with  a  fleet  of  only 
thirty-eight  ships  of  the  corresponding  type.  The 
odds  against  Britain  were  far  greater  than  they  had 
been  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  yet  the 
invaders  on  this  occasion  were  destined  to  meet  the 
same  disappointment  as  in  1588.  The  English  ad 
miral  handled  his  ships  well,  drew  the  enemy  away 
from  before  Plymouth  and  successfully  avoided  an 
engagement  with  the  superior  force.  Dissensions 
between  the  Bourbon  commanders  also  tended  to 
prevent  the  success  of  the  attack;  and  before  har 
mony  prevailed  in  their  councils,  sickness  rendered 
the  Spanish  crews  unfit  for  service.  The  ships  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty  were  withdrawn,  leaving  the  crest 
fallen  French  admiral  with  no  choice  but  to  make  his 
best  way  back  to  Brest,  which  he  did  without  more 
ado.  The  result  of  the  boasted  Bourbon  invasion  had 
been  the  capture  of  a  single  British  ship  of  the  line. 

England  breathed  freely  once  more,  but  with  her 
relief  came  a  disconcerting  consciousness  of  the  peril 
that  had  so  recently  confronted  her.  A  tumult  was 
raised  over  the  defenceless  state  of  the  southern  coast, 
a  tumult  in  which  as  usual  the  obstreperous  Duke 
of  Richmond  made  himself  heard  above  the  rest.  He 
attacked  Amherst  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  called 
the  attention  of  the  peers  to  a  few  startling  facls 
about  conditions  existing  at  Plymouth  in  the  previous 
July  and  August.  Only  four  or  five  thousand  troops 
had  guarded  the  exposed  seaport,  when  it  required 
at  least  twice  that  number;  the  intrenchments  were 


304  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

most  unskillfully,  planned;  and  as  for  the  ordnance, 
Amherst's  particular  department,  there  were  guns 
and  shot,  but  no  small  stores  like  handspikes,  wad 
ding,  rammers  etc.,  without  which  the  former  were 
useless.  Had  the  enemy  seen  fit  to  attack  it,  Plym 
outh  must  certainly  have  fallen,  and  it  was  his 
Grace's  opinion  that  whoever  had  been  neglectful  of 
his  duty,  or  unequal  to  the  proper  discharge  of  it, 
ought  to  be  brought  to  the  most  exemplary  punishment. 
This  invective  brought  Amherst  to  his  feet  in  an 
instant;  but  his  defence  was  very  weak.  He  de 
clared  that  he  had  gone  down  to  Plymouth  early 
in  the  summer  and  had  observed  the  state  of  affairs 
there.  The  place  ought  to  have  had  ten  thousand 
men  to  insure  it  against  a  land  attack,  but  that 
number  could  not  then  be  supplied.  He  assured  the 
House  that  there  was  an  abundance  of  gunpowder 
and  balls,  but,  conscious  of  his  negligence,  he  also 
blurted  out  that  if  the  latter  did  not  fit  the  cannon 
it  was  not  his  fault!  The  works  were  admittedly 
insufficient,  but  they  were  the  best  that  could  be 
constructed  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  and  were 
intended  to  impede  rather  than  to  repel  the  pro 
spective  invaders.  On  the  whole,  Amherst's  expla 
nations  were  anything  but  convincing.  When  the 
Duke  mercilessly  ridiculed  them,  the  General's  only 
reply  was  that  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  submit  to 
an  investigation  and  was  ready  to  abide  by  the 
judgment  of  the  country.  There,  for  the  time  being, 
the  matter  rested.1 

1  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xx,  1071-1081. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  305 

In  case  of  an  inquiry  into  Amherst's  supposed  neg 
ligence  George  III  declared  himself  neutral,  for,  as 
he  said,  "The  affair  relates  to  him  and  the  Ordnance; 
if  they  can  defend  themselves  I  do  not  see  any  evil 
can  arise;  if  they  have  not  done  their  duty  it  is  right 
it  should  be  known."  l  If  we  emulate  the  King's 
judicial  state  of  mind  in  trying  to  form  a  proper 
estimate  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  we  must  find  the 
assertion  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  strong  evidence 
against  the  Commander-in-Chief.  According  to  Lind 
say,  who  was  in  command  at  Plymouth  during  the 
precarious  months,  the  Government  had  neglected  the 
defences  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Bourbon  allies 
could  have  taken  the  dockyards  in  six  hours.2  On 
the  other  hand  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  was  ever  careful  to  twist  facts  to 
suit  his  arguments.  In  the  latter  part  of  April,  1780, 
the  wretched  business  was  again  dragged  into  the 
House  of  Lords  when  Richmond  went  so  far  as  to 
move  that  the  assembly  resolve  itself  into  a  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  de 
fence  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  in  the  previous  August, 
and  to  place  the  responsibility  for  their  lack  of  secu 
rity.  After  a  great  deal  too  much  had  been  said  on 
both  sides,  the  peers  defeated  the  Duke's  motion  by 
a  gratifying  vote  of  ninety-two  to  fifty-one.3 

Almost  at  the  moment  when  Amherst  was  so  vig 
orously  attacked  by  the  Opposition,  an  opportunity 

1  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  287. 

2  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  iii,  289. 

3  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xxi,  459-491. 


3o6  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

to  vindicate  himself  as  a  worthy  commander-in- 
chief  was  fortunately  and  unexpectedly  afforded  by 
a  series  of  anti-Catholic  demonstrations  known  as 
the  Gordon  Riots.  Logically  this  reign  of  terror 
should  have  occurred  in  1778,  when  Parliament  passed 
an  act  relieving  Papists  of  certain  unreasonable  dis 
abilities  on  condition  of  their  taking  oaths  which  the 
Protestants  considered  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the 
realm.1  The  measure  applied  only  to  England,  but 
it  was  generally  known  that  its  provision  would  be 
extended  to  Scotland  in  the  following  year,  and  in 
anticipation  of  such  a  calamity  the  men  to  the  north 
ward  made  known  their  sentiments  by  riotous  pro 
ceedings  in  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow.  The  lives  of 
Roman  Catholics  were  in  constant  danger,  and  lib 
eral  Protestants  were  also  attacked.  The  spirit  of 
unrest  spread  to  England,  where  the  fanatical  party 
found  a  leader  in  the  unbalanced  Lord  George 
Gordon,  a  young  man  whose  violent  anti-Catholic 
speeches  had  received  only  ridicule  and  contempt  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  Outside  its  walls,  however, 
the  fanatical  Scotchman  easily  gathered  about  him 
a  party,  called  the  Protestant  Association,  which 
held  a  great  meeting  on  May  29,  1780,  and  decided 
to  petition  for  the  repeal  of  the  Relief  Act. 

On  the  afternoon  of  June  2,  thousands  of  men, 
bearing  the  petition,  poured  in  upon  Westminster  and 
attempted  to  frighten  Parliament  into  executing  their 
wishes  on  the  spot.  When  the  legislators  objected 
to  recognizing  this  informal  display  of  what  we  call 

1  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  iii,  551. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  307 

the  right  of  initiative,  the  demonstrations  of  the 
multitude  developed  into  a  riot  of  alarming  propor 
tions.  Members  of  the  Commons  were  seized  and 
insulted,  and  venerable  peers  on  their  way  through 
Palace  Yard  were  subjected  to  unpardonable  outrages. 
Those  who  got  safely  within  doors  were  imprisoned 
there  until,  after  several  hours  of  suspense,  troops 
arrived  upon  the  scene  and  dispersed  the  crowd. 
This  was  but  the  beginning  of  anarchy,  however,  for 
the  rioters,  once  excited,  threw  discretion  to  the 
winds  and  turned  London  into  Pandemonium.  The 
scenes  that  followed  in  the  next  five  days  and  nights 
have  been  vividly  described  in  "  Barnaby  Rudge," 
but  even  the  pen  of  Charles  Dickens  could  not  exag 
gerate  the  horrors  of  that  frightful  cataclysm.  Not 
only  was  the  property  of  Roman  Catholics  ruthlessly 
destroyed  in  every  part  of  the  metropolis,  but  also 
the  houses  of  the  leading  ministers  were  assailed  by 
the  all-powerful  crowds.  At  Lord  North's  the  mob 
was  beaten  back  by  a  party  of  light  horse,  but  Lord 
Mansfield,  the  aged  Chief-Justice,  was  obliged  to  wit 
ness  the  demolition  of  his  mansion  in  Bloomsbury 
Square  and  to  see  his  noble  law  library  consigned  to 
the  flames.  A  still  more  desperate  deed  was  the 
burning  of  Newgate,  the  greatest  prison  in  London, 
which  belched  forth  about  three  hundred  convicts  as 
its  contribution  to  the  forces  of  the  rioters.  So  out 
rage  followed  outrage  until  an  attempt  was  made  to 
capture  or  burn  even  the  Bank  of  England. 

That   such   a   rebellion  could   have  taken   place   in 
London  when  England  was  at  war  with  three  nations 


3o8  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

is  a  commentary  upon  the  unpopularity  of  the  North 
Ministry,  but  the  reason  for  the  long  continuance  of 
the  reign  of  anarchy  is  found  elsewhere.  Apparently 
the  municipal  government  was  paralyzed  with  fear, 
but  actually  its  helplessness  was  due  to  the  provi 
sions  of  the  Riot  Act,  which  tied  the  hands  of  the 
military  and  gave  the  rioters  full  sway.  To-day  the 
police  system  of  London  commands  universal  admi 
ration,  but  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  metropolis 
lacked  any  such  institution  worthy  of  the  name.  To 
make  matters  worse  the  Riot  Act  of  1715,  in  an 
attempt  to  safeguard  Englishmen  against  the  abuse 
of  military  power,  dictated  that  in  case  of  lawlessness 
a  specified  proclamation  must  be  read  to  the  mob  by 
a  justice  or  other  magistrate,  and  that  the  offenders 
must  be  given  an  hour  in  which  to  scatter  before 
troops  or  a  posse  comitatus  might  make  arrests  or 
fire  upon  them.1  These  restrictions  were  of  great 
advantage  to  the  rioters;  in  the  first  place,  a  justice 
was  apt  to  keep  out  of  the  way  when  dangerous  dis 
turbances  occurred;  and  secondly,  a  mob  could  do 
an  infinite  amount  of  harm  in  the  hour  of  grace 
accorded  it  before  the  soldiers  might  fire  a  shot. 
Under  such  conditions  it  is  not  surprising  that  in 
1780  London  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  rioters  for  al 
most  a  week. 

As  things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  George  III 
decided  that  something  must  be  done  to  restore  order. 
On  June  7,  he  called  a  meeting  of  the  Privy  Council 
and  questioned  his  advisers  upon  the  wisdom  of 

1  Statutes  at  Large,  I  George  I,  Cap.  5. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA          309 

longer  observing  the  provisions  of  the  Riot  Ad. 
At  first  the  Councillors  hesitated  to  take  a  definite 
position  one  way  or  the  other;  but  when  Wedder- 
burn,  the  Attorney-General,  declared  that  under  pres 
ent  conditions  the  reading  of  the  Proclamation  was 
wholly  unnecessary,  his  colleagues  readily  came 
around  to  his  wholesome,  though  perhaps  uncon 
stitutional,  point  of  view.1  The  King  then  declared 
that  as  chief  magistrate  he  would  see  their  advice 
carried  into  effect;  and  he  did.  At  no  other  moment 
in  his  long  reign  did  George  III  so  nearly  approach 
greatness.  His  willingness  to  nullify  the  Riot  Act  in 
order  to  save  London  suggests  President  Cleveland's 
conduct  in  1894,  when  the  chief  executive  of  the 
United  States,  under  somewhat  similar  circumstances, 
ordered  federal  troops  to  Chicago  without  an  appli 
cation  from  the  legislature  or  governor  of  Illinois.2 
Wedderburn  drew  up  an  order  authorizing  the  mili 
tary  to  use  force  without  waiting  for  form;  the 
King  signed  it,  and  Amherst,  as  commander-in-chief 
acted  upon  it  the  same  day.3  When  this  measure 
went  into  execution,  London  was  quickly  restored  to 
order,  although  in  the  process  over  two  hundred 
people  were  shot  dead  in  the  streets. 

What  Bonaparte  did  for  the  Directory  in  1795, 
Amherst  did  for  London  at  this  time;  and  such 
uncompromising  treatment  of  lawlessness  has  ever 
proved  most  effectual.  Nevertheless,  the  smoke  of 

1  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  of  England,  viii,  42. 

2  Rhodes'  Historical  Essays,  p.  225. 

3  Hamilton's  History  of  the  Foot  Guards,  ii,  259. 


310  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

conflagrations  due  to  the  Gordon  Riots  had  hardly 
disappeared  when  the  Duke  of  Richmond  was  once 
more  on  his  feet  in  the  House  of  Lords,  fulminating 
against  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  moving  that  a 
parliamentary  inquiry  be  made  into  certain  methods 
employed  by  him  in  suppressing  the  recent  disturb 
ances.1  His  ground  for  complaint  was  not  the  in 
fraction  of  the  Riot  Act,  but  an  order  Amherst  had 
issued  disarming  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  London, 
which,  according  to  the  Duke,  was  "contrary  to  the 
positive  privilege  of  the  subjects  of  this  empire  as 
declared  in  the  Bill  of  Rights."  In  the  ensuing  in 
vestigation,  it  appeared  that  one  Colonel  Twistleton 
had  seen  suspicious  persons  going  about  with  firelocks, 
and  being  in  doubt  as  to  the  proper  way  of  dealing 
with  them,  he  wrote  to  the  Commander-in-Chief  for 
instructions.  As  the  riots  had  only  just  subsided  at 
the  time  the  letter  was  written  and  another  outbreak 
was  feared  at  any  minute,  Amherst  replied  that  any 
arms  found  in  the  hands  of  unauthorized  individuals 
were  to  be  delivered  up  and  kept  in  safety  until 
further  notice.2  Although  this  edict  directly  contra 
vened  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  sacred  Declaration 
of  Rights,3  memories  of  the  recent  outrages  happily 
outweighed  reverence  for  the  English  constitution  in 
both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  after  much  debate 
Richmond's  attempt  to  censure  Amherst  for  over 
stepping  the  law  was  emphatically  rejected.4 

1  Cobbett's  Parliamentary  History,  xxi,  591.  2  Ibid.,  xxi,  692. 

3  i  William  and  Mary,  Second  Session,  Cap.  2,  (Statutes  at  Large,  iii,  441). 

4  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  xxxvii,  928:   Journals  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  xxx vi,  151. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  311 

In  the  winter  of  1780  the  Netherlands  joined  in 
the  war  which  the  United  States,  France,  and  Spain 
were  waging  against  Britain,  and  after  that  time 
almost  any  hard  blow  the  Americans  could  inflict 
must  have  proved  decisive  for  their  cause.  There 
fore,  when  Cornwallis  surrendered  to  Washington  at 
Yorktown,  on  October  19,  1781,  the  independence  of 
the  erstwhile  colonies  was  practically  assured.  This 
final  catastrophe  to  British  arms  was  at  least  partly 
attributable  to  Lord  George  Germain's  unfortunate 
habit  of  undermining  the  efficiency  of  the  commander- 
in-chief  in  America  by  encouraging  insubordination 
in  his  second.1  In  this  case  he  had  given  Cornwallis 
an  almost  independent  command  and  had  sent  him 
off  on  an  attempt  to  conquer  the  southern  states, 
much  to  the  displeasure  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  Al 
though  Amherst  did  not  approve  of  the  operations 
which  Lord  Cornwallis  proposed,  he  preferred  him  to 
Clinton  as  a  man,  and  therefore  gave  him  his  sup 
port.2  The  result  was  the  surrender  at  Yorktown, 
and  if  Clinton's  observations  on  that  disaster  were 
just,  Amherst  must  share  in  the  responsibility  for  it. 
According  to  Sir  Henry  the  loss  of  the  campaign  was 
attributable  "to  the  Cabinet's  having  given  a  pref 
erence  to  the  plans  of  a  second  in  command,"  and  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  "to  Lord  North, 
Lord  G.  Germain,  Thurlow  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord 
Sandwich,  Lord  Amherst,  Lord  Gower  —  the  last 
not  least"  -the  thanks  of  the  nation  were  due  in 

1  Channing's  United  States,  iii,  327. 

2  B.  F.  Stevens'  CHnton-Cornwallis  Controversy,  i,  45,  115. 


312  JEFFERT  AM H ERST 

great  part  for  the  loss  of  America.1  Thus  the  con 
clusion  may  not  be  too  far-fetched  that  whether  or 
not  Jeffery  Amherst's  sentiment  kept  him  from  taking 
the  field  against  our  ancestors,  nevertheless,  through 
his  ill-starred  advice  to  Lord  George  Germain  on  this 
occasion,  he  was  a  negative  factor  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  American  independence. 

The  North  Ministry,  which  had  too  long  tottered 
on  the  brink  of  collapse,  could  not  survive  the  news 
of  Cornwallis's  surrender.  It  is  a  familiar  story  how 
Lord  North,  upon  hearing  the  fatal  tidings,  exclaimed, 
"Oh,  God,  it  is  all  over!"  and  although  the  King 
was  slow  to  comprehend  the  significance  of  the  event, 
his  Prime  Minister  was  right.  On  March  20,  1782, 
North  resigned,  and  with  him  fell  all  his  colleagues. 
Lord  Amherst  at  once  gave  up  the  office  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  as  well  as  his  high  post  at  the 
Ordnance  and  retired  to  the  pastoral  shades  of 
"Montreal."  But  Lord  George  Germain,  the  "master 
marplot"  of  them  all,  was  not  content  to  retire  from 
office  so  quietly.  As  a  younger  son  of  a  well-known 
duke,  he  very  much  desired  a  peerage  as  a  token  of 
the  King's  appreciation  of  his  doubtful  services,  and 
in  order  to  outrank  Amherst,  who  had  started  his 
career  as  a  page  in  his  father's  household,  Germain 
asked  to  be  created  a  viscount.2  His  request  was 
granted,  but  the  new  title  brought  humiliation  as 
well  as  glitter  in  its  wake;  for  when  the  metamor 
phosed  Lord  George  Germain  essayed  to  take  his 

1  B.  F.  Stevens'  Clinton-Cornwallis  Controversy,  i,  42,  nvh. 

2  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


THE  BOURBON  ARMADA  313 

seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Viscount  Sackville, 
that  august  body  disputed  his  right  to  the  honor. 
Unpleasant  memories  of  the  battle  of  Minden  were 
revived  and  paraded  to  prove  that  the  admission  of 
"the  greatest  criminal  this  country  ever  knew,  would 
be  a  disgrace  to  the  House,"  1  and  only  after  much 
discomfort  was  the  new  peer  allowed  to  enjoy  his 
ill-gotten  elevation. 

1  Parliamentary  Register,  xxv,  105-107,  217-228. 


CHAPTER  XV 

LAST  YEARS 

TO  offset  the  losses  Amherst  sustained  as  a  re 
sult  of  the  fall  of  the  North  Ministry,  the 
King  appointed  him  colonel  of  the  Second 
Troop  of  Life  Guards,  a  position  which  traditionally 
brought  with  it  certain  honors  and  duties  known  as 
"the  Gold  Stick  in  Waiting/'  The  incumbent  was 
held  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the  royal  person,  and 
had  to  provide  a  sufficient  guard  to  attend  his  Majesty, 
especially  on  occasions  of  state.1  Thus  the  office 
which  Lord  Amherst  held  for  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
not  wholly  a  sinecure;2  for  the  most  part,  however, 
the  General  was  once  more  at  leisure  and  could  give 
much  of  his  time  to  social  life  and  to  the  more  satis 
factory  enjoyment  of  his  friends. 

Jeffery  Amherst  was  now  a  man  of  sixty-five  years 
or  more,  whom  his  contemporaries  found  "grave, 
formal,  and  cold."  In  person  he  was  tall  and  thin; 
his  complexion  was  florid  and  his  most  striking  fea 
ture,  excepting  a  large  wart  on  the  left  cheek,  was 
a  conspicuously  aquiline  nose.  Although  his  intelli 
gent  face  was  an  index  to  the  sound  judgment  and 
solid  understanding  which  characterized  his  Lordship, 
Amherst  lacked  the  cultivation  that  would  have  made 

1  Cannon's  Historical  Record  of  the  Life  Guards,  p.  165. 

2  Myers  MS.  No.  1453,  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 


LAST  TEARS  315 

him  more  at  ease  in  the  society  to  which  his  title 
had  raised  him.1  Most  of  his  friends  were  military 
men  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  in  his  vari 
ous  campaigns,  but  among  those  whom  he  found  con 
genial  without  the  common  background  of  the  tented 
field  was  Governor  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  exiled 
executive  of  Massachusetts-Bay.  Hutchinson  was  a 
gentleman  of  refinement  and  culture,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  and  an  historian  whose  work  has 
stood  the  test  of  time;  yet  he  and  the  General  seem 
to  have  found  singular  pleasure  in  each  other's  com 
pany.  From  the  moment  of  his  arrival  in  England 
in  the  summer  of  1774,  until  he  died  of  homesickness 
and  a  broken  heart  six  years  later,  the  Governor  was 
a  frequent  visitor  at  Amherst's  town-house  or  country- 
seat,  as  the  season  might  dictate.  Oftentimes  they 
walked  together  in  the  Park  and  discussed  the  course 
of  the  war  in  America,  both  hoping  against  hope  that 
peace  would  soon  be  restored  and  that  the  British 
empire  would  be  once  more  what  it  was  at  the  close 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  Doubtless  the  fact  that 
the  General  had  been  in  Boston  and  had  gazed  more 
than  once  upon  the  Blue  Hills  of  Milton,  made 
Hutchinson  feel  doubly  drawn  to  the  stolid  soldier; 
but  apart  from  that  bond  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  certain  friendly  understanding  between  the  two 
men  which  helped  to  alleviate  the  American's  lonely 
suffering  during  those  last  sad  years  of  his  life.2 

1  Wraxall's  Historical  and  Posthumous  Memoirs  (edited  by  H.  B. 
Wheatley),  i,  406-407. 

8  Hutchinson's  Diary  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  i,  226,  417;  ii,  31,  78,  ft 
passim:  also  Egerton  MS.,  No.  2659,  Fol.  235,  in  the  British  Museum. 


316  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

Another  acquaintance  often  to  be  found  at  Lord 
Amherst's  was  Lieutenant-General  Sir  Frederick  Hal- 
dimand,  who  had  commanded  a  battalion  of  the  Royal 
Americans  in  the  expedition  against  Montreal  in 
1760,  and  whom  Amherst  had  appointed  governor  of 
the  district  of  Three  Rivers,  after  the  conquest  of 
Canada.  Haldimand  was  a  Swiss  by  birth  and  never 
spoke  English  with  any  degree  of  success.  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  American  Revolution  he  was 
governor  of  Canada,  whence  he  returned  to  England 
in  the  autumn  of  1784.  From  that  time  on  he  was 
in  constant  attendance  at  Lord  Amherst's  where  he 
dined  or  played  cards  to  his  heart's  content.  Her 
Ladyship  entertained  much  company  during  these 
years,  and  although  Haldimand  was  always  ready  to 
accept  her  invitations  and  eat  and  drink  at  Am 
herst's  expense,  he  was  equally  ready  to  record  his 
unpleasant  impressions  of  his  host  in  a  private  diary, 
which  has  since  been  made  public.  This  was  poor 
taste,  but  the  entries  give  one  an  interesting  picture 
of  Lord  Amherst.  At  one  time  Haldimand  com 
plained  of  the  General's  evasive  answers,  of  his  un 
willingness  to  use  his  influence  to  do  anyone  a  good 
turn,  and  of  his  dislike  of  foreigners;1  on  other  occa 
sions  Amherst's  receptivity  for  flattery  distressed  the 
diarist,  or  he  "exhibited  his  usual  fussiness."  Per 
haps  the  most  extraordinary  entry  is  that  describing 
a  military  dinner  at  the  Amhersts'  where  Haldimand 
deliberately  "asked  for  a  bottle  of  old  Madeira  be- 

1  Private  Diary  of  General  Haldimand,  April  n,  1786,  in  the  Report  on 
Canadian  Archives,  1889. 


LAST  TEARS  317 

cause  it  was  offered  to  us  with  bad  grace."  l  From 
his  record  for  the  following  day  one  would  judge 
that  the  disgruntled  guest  would  have  been  just  as 
well  off  without  the  stimulant  which  he  extorted 
from  his  reluctant  Lordship.  Horace  Walpole  was 
another  occasional  visitor  at  the  Amhersts',  and  he 
likewise  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  take  a  dig  at 
his  host,  for  whom  he  had  a  deep-seated  aversion; 
but  his  remarks  on  the  whole  were  not  so  unfriendly 
as  were  those  of  General  Haldimand.2 

Probably  Amherst  found  another  form  of  social 
activity  more  enjoyable  than  his  wife's  series  of  routs 
and  receptions:  this  was  the  American  Club,  a  con 
genial  group  of  officers  who  had  seen  service  in  the 
New  World  and  who  had  banded  themselves  together 
for  the  sake  of  auld  lang  syne  and  the  enjoyment  of 
good  dinners.  The  organization  was  formed  at  the 
close  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  its  first  presi 
dent  being  the  notorious  Colonel  Charles  Lee;3  but  at 
this  time  Amherst  was  its  head  and  continued  to  be 
so  until  1787,  when  he  yielded  the  honor  to  Admiral 
Lord  Howe,  the  brother  of  Sir  William  Howe  of 
American  Revolution  fame.4 

Although  Amherst  was  disappointed  in  his  attempt 
to  procure  for  himself  a  grant  of  the  Jesuit  estates 
in  Canada  in  1771,  he  by  no  means  abandoned  hope 
of  adding  those  rich  lands  to  his  share  of  this  world's 

1  Ibid.,  Jan.  18,  1787. 

2  Horace  Walpole  to  Miss  Mary  Berry,  March  27,  1791. 

8  Richard  E.  Day's  Calendar  of  the  Sir  William  Johnson  Manuscripts, 
p.  204. 

4  Haldimand  Diary,  January  30,  1787. 


3i8  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

goods.  He  had  come  so  tantalizingly  near  winning 
the  prize,  —  the  draught  of  the  instrument  apparently 
lacked  only  the  approbation  of  the  King  in  Council, 
-  that  after  a  few  years  of  discreet  silence  he  re 
newed  his  petition  to  the  Crown.1 

The  second  plea  produced  no  more  satisfactory 
results  than  the  first,  but  when  Amherst  once  more 
presented  his  request,  seven  years  later,  his  persis 
tency  was  rewarded  with  the  prospect  of  success.  An 
order  in  council  was  issued  creating  a  commission  to 
ascertain  the  extent  of  the  lands,  their  value,  and 
their  nature,  and  in  the  spring  of  1787  it  was  com 
mon  talk  in  Canada  that  at  last  Lord  Amherst  was 
to  achieve  his  purpose:  the  patent  was  already  made 
out  and  awaited  the  Action  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  of  Quebec.2  Indeed  so  certain  did  the  out 
come  seem  that  one  Captain  Genevay,  a  friend  of 
General  Haldimand,  took  time  by  the  forelock  and 
sought  the  position  of  curator  of  Amherst's  pro 
spective  estates.  But  fate  decreed  otherwise.  In  No 
vember,  just  at  the  time  when  everything  indicated 
Amherst's  long-deferred  success,  a  counter-petition, 
signed  by  almost  two  hundred  Canadians,  was  pre 
sented  to  Lord  Dorchester,  the  governor  of  Quebec.3 
In  this  document  and  the  memorial  which  accom 
panied  it,  the  inhabitants  argued  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  Jesuit  estates  originated  in  private  dona 
tions  made  expressly  for  educational  purposes,  and 

1  Afls  of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),  v,  [150]. 

2  Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Society's  Collections,  xx,  285. 

3  Kingsford's  History  of  Canada,  vii,  288. 


LAST  TEARS  319 

for  that  reason  they  should  be  regarded  as  public 
property  and  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  a  college 
which  was  very  much  needed.1  The  legality  of  their 
claim  was  dubious  at  best,  but  the  virtue  of  the 
cause  of  education  gave  strength  to  the  suit  of  the 
Canadians.  Furthermore,  Lord  Dorchester,  who  was 
an  army  man  and  had  served  under  Amherst  at 
Louisburg,  had  a  strong  dislike  for  his  one-time 
commander 2  and  doubtless  did  all  in  his  power  to 
prevent  the  realization  of  the  latter's  mercenary 
aspirations.  While  his  Majesty's  commissioners  were 
busy  with  the  survey  and  report  which  were  intended 
to  prelude  the  Amherst  grant,  the  governor  gave 
access  to  all  persons  who  could  advance  claims  or 
remonstrances  against  it,  and  took  pains  to  impress 
the  adverse  sentiments  of  the  Canadians  upon  the 
Home  Secretary  in  England.3  The  result  of  his  efforts 
was  an  unsatisfactory  status  quo  that  lasted  until 
1803,  four  years  after  the  death  of  Lord  Amherst. 
Then  Parliament  settled  the  case  by  voting  his  heirs 
a  perpetual  annuity  of  £3000  in  lieu  of  the  long- 
sought  estates  in  America.  As  the  annual  revenue 
of  the  Jesuit  lands  in  1787  was  not  more  than  $5000 
it  is  evident  that  Amherst's  immediate  heir  was 
no  loser  by  the  $15,000  annuity  substituted  for  the 
other  source  of  income.4  By  the  end  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  however,  the  Canadian  property  would 

1  Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  1890,  pp.  203-204. 

2  Donne's  Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii,  278. 
*  Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  1890,  pp.  273-274. 

4  Kingsford's  History  of  Canada,  vii,  287. 


320  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

have  eclipsed  the  pecuniary  gift  as  a  remunerative 
asset. 

After  1781  Lord  Amherst  found  himself  the  last 
leaf  of  his  generation  upon  the  family  tree,  and  he 
had  no  children  to  cheer  or  comfort  his  declining 
years.  His  brother  John,  an  admiral  in  the  navy, 
died  in  1778,  his  sister  Elizabeth  in  the  following 
year,  and  in  May,  1781,  William,  his  companion  in 
war  and  peace,  also  departed  this  life.  Since  the 
days  of  Louisburg  and  Montreal  William  Amherst 
had  rivalled  his  more  distinguished  brother  in  the 
acquisition  of  honors  and  profitable  sinecures.  From 
being  deputy-governor  of  a  fortress  on  the  southeast 
coast,  he  rose  to  be  a  member  of  Parliament,  and 
finally,  governor  of  Newfoundland,  the  island  which 
he  had  recaptured  from  the  enemy  towards  the  end 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  In  the  army  he  was  made 
lieutenant-general,  and  although  there  was  talk  of 
his  going  to  America  in  the  War  of  Independence,1 
he  stayed  in  England  and  fought  the  King's  battles 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  Like  his  brother,  he  was 
a  firm  adherent  of  George  III,  and  belonged  to  that 
useful,  if  not  respedlable,  army  known  as  "the  King's 
friends." 

When  General  William  Amherst  died  in  1781,  he 
left  two  children,  Elizabeth  and  William  Pitt  Am 
herst,  aged  twelve  and  eight  respectively.  Their 
mother,  who  was  "a  very  pretty  and  accomplished 
woman  much  beloved  by  her  brothers-in-law,"  had 
died  five  years  earlier,  and  Lord  Amherst  naturally 

1  Stopford-Sackvillf  Manuscripts,  ii,  54. 


LAST  TEARS  321 

took  his  niece  and  nephew  under  his  wing.  Wil 
liam's  home  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  was  sold,  and  the 
children  came  to  "Montreal"  to  live  with  their  uncle 
and  aunt,  who  treated  them  as  if  they  were  their 
own  offspring.  The  boy,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was 
named  for  the  great  statesman,  during  whose  admin 
istration  his  uncle  and  father  had  won  reputations 
for  themselves  in  America;  indeed  Lord  Chatham  was 
one  of  his  godfathers.  Lord  Amherst  sent  his  nephew 
to  school  at  Westminster  and  thence  to  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  where  he  received  the  degree  of  M.A.  in 
1797,  the  year  of  his  uncle's  death.1  Two  years  later 
he  was  recommended  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs  as  a  young  man  of  exceptionally  high 
character,  a  reputation  which  he  more  than  justified 
during  the  next  thirty  years.  After  a  brief  mission 
to  China  he  was  appointed  Governor-General  of  India, 
and  for  his  conduct  of  affairs  in  that  part  of  the 
empire  William  Pitt  Amherst  was  created  an  earl 
in  1826. 

Of  course  Jeffery  Amherst  could  not  foresee  the 
brilliant  career  of  his  favorite  brother's  son,  but  he 
considered  his  nephew  none  the  less  worthy  of  in 
heriting  the  honors  which  he  had  won  during  his 
long  life,  and  in  1788,  he  definitely  named  him  the 
heir  to  his  title  and  estate.  In  order  to  bring  this 
about  legally  the  General  procured  a  new  patent  of 
peerage  wherein  he  was  styled  Baron  Amherst  of 
Montreal,  and  which  stipulated  that  William  Pitt 
Amherst  and  his  heirs  male  should  succeed  to  the 

1  Ritchie  and  Evans'  Lord  Amber si^  pp.  11-12. 


322  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

coronet  and  to  the  property.1  When  this  was  settled, 
Lord  Amherst  took  care  to  enlarge  his  domain  in 
Sevenoaks  whenever  there  was  an  opportunity  to  do 
so,  and  in  other  ways  increased  and  concentrated  his 
nephew's  heritage.2 

In  February,  1793,  the  Revolutionists  of  France, 
fresh  from  the  murder  of  Louis  XVI,  and  drunk  with 
the  success  of  their  efforts  to  overturn  the  existing 
order  of  things,  declared  war  upon  England.  Fore 
seeing  this  event,  the  British  government  had  already 
called  upon  Lord  Amherst  to  take  command  of  the 
army  in  Great  Britain  as  in  1778.  Although  his 
Lordship  was  really  an  old  man,  he  forgot  his  seventy- 
five  years  and  cheerfully  assumed  the  task  imposed 
upon  him.  A  task  it  certainly  was,  for  in  the  last 
ten  years  the  British  army  had  degenerated  to  a 
point  never  reached  before  or  since. 

For  this  decline  there  were  many  reasons.  In  the 
first  place  when  the  North  Ministry  went  out  of  office 
Amherst  was  succeeded  as  commander-in-chief  by 
Henry  Seymour  Conway,  an  ardent  Whig  who  could 
not  get  along  with  the  younger  Pitt  and  who  conse 
quently  resigned  his  position  in  March,  1784.  From 
that  time  on  there  was  no  commander-in-chief  until 
Amherst's  appointment  in  1793 .3 

Although  that  lapse  must  have  been  decidedly 
hurtful  to  the  service,  it  was  not  the  basic  cause  of 
the  wane  of  England's  military  establishment.  The 

1  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  September,  1788,  p.  842. 

2  Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  vol.  39,  p.  7153. 

3  Fortescue's  History  of  the  British  Army,  iii,  529. 


LAST  TEARS  323 

main  responsibility  must  rest  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  Prime  Minister;  for,  great  as  was  his  genius, 
William  Pitt  the  Younger  had  his  limitations  when 
it  came  to  the  administration  of  the  army,  the  very 
department  in  which  his  father  had  so  pre-eminently 
excelled.  At  the  end  of  the  American  War  all  sol 
diers  whose  terms  of  service  were  up  had  made  haste 
to  leave  their  regiments,  and  recruits  to  fill  their 
places  had  not  been  forthcoming.1  The  fact  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  persuade  men  to  enlist,  and 
those  who  did  so  constantly  deserted,  should  have 
suggested  to  the  ministers  that  conditions  of  life  in 
the  army  needed  an  investigation  and  a  remedy, 
but  the  government  dodged  the  issue  and  relied  upon 
the  purchase  of  Hessians  rather  than  upon  a  recon 
struction  of  the  English  army  to  supply  the  needed 
soldiers  in  time  of  stress.2  As  a  subterfuge  this  prac 
tice  might  be  temporarily  economical,  but  England 
could  not  long  afford  to  make  her  military  service  as 
unpopular  as  it  was  from  1783  until  1797. 

The  great  evil  in  the  army  was  the  lack  of  a  living 
wage,  and  the  unfortunate  privates  found  themselves 
forced  to  choose  between  starvation  and  desertion. 
The  Secretary  at  War  and  the  Adjutant-General 
were  quite  aware  of  the  grievous  state  of  affairs,  but 
Pitt,  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  declined  to  do 
anything  until  1792.  Then  a  reformed  financial 
basis  assured  the  soldier  a  net  annual  income  of  only 
eighteen  shillings  ten  pence  half-penny.3  Such  was 

1  Ibid.,  iii,  499.  2  Ibid.,  iii,  516-517. 

3  Ibid.,  iii,  521. 


324  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

the  false  economy  of  the  younger  Pitt.  What  wonder, 
then,  that  Amherst  upon  resuming  his  command 
found  the  army  completely  demoralized  and  fast 
dying  of  inanition?  These  facfts  are  important,  be 
cause  after  his  Lordship's  death  Henry  Dundas, 
Secretary  of  State  for  War,  spoke  of  the  late  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  as  "a  worthy  and  respedlable  old 
man,"  but  one  who  had  done  "mischief"  that  would 
not  be  repaired  "but  by  the  unremitting  attention 
of  many."  1  By  placing  the  responsibility  for  Pitt's 
misdeeds  upon  Amherst,  Dundas  was  guilty  of  gross 
injustice,  for  the  General  merely  took  over  in  an 
emergency  the  hollow  framework  of  an  army  and  did 
the  best  he  could  with  it  in  the  two  years  during 
which  he  held  the  chief  command.  One  could  hardly 
ask  that  a  man  of  more  than  seventy-five  years  should 
reform  a  rotten  military  system  suddenly  thrust  upon 
him,  and  those  who  lament  that  Amherst  "allowed 
innumerable  abuses  to  grow  up  in  the  army"  must 
produce  their  grounds  for  such  a  grave  and  unjust 
charge. 

In  February,  1795,  the  General  was  relieved  of  his 
burdensome  office  by  the  Duke  of  York,  a  son  of 
George  III.  It  is  said  that  Lord  Amherst  was  then 
offered  an  earldom,  which  he  declined;2  but  that  any 
such  elevation  was  proposed  is  doubtful,  not  only 
because  the  King  made  no  mention  of  it  to  the 
gentleman  whose  duty  it  was  to  inform  the  General 

1  Historical   Manuscripts   Commission's  Report  on  the  Manuscripts  of 
J.  B.  Forte  scue,  Esq.,  iv,  264. 

2  Gentleman's  Magazine,  September,  1797,  p.  801. 


LAST  TEARS  325 

of  the  change,1  but  also  because  if  the  proposal  had 
been  made,  Amherst,  in  all  probability,  would  have 
snapped  up  the  prize  in  an  instant.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year  he  was 
given  the  rank  of  field-marshal,  the  highest  military 
office  in  the  British  army  and  an  eminence  which  no 
man  in  England  deserved  more  than  he. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  chief  command  his 
Lordship's  health  began  to  fail,  and  he  found  himself 
scarcely  able  to  attend  to  his  duties  as  Gold  Stick, 
much  less  to  take  any  part  in  the  conduct  of  the  war 
which  still  continued  with  the  French  revolutionists. 
From  his  retirement  at  "Montreal"  Lord  Amherst 
watched  the  tedious  course  of  the  hostilities  and  the 
rise  of  Bonaparte,  little  dreaming  that  the  Corsican 
was  soon  to  become  the  terror  and  scourge  of  all 
western  Europe.  On  August  3,  1797,  the  end  came, 
and  a  week  later  his  Lordship's  remains  were 
interred  in  the  family  vault  in  Sevenoaks  church. 
The  funeral  service  was  performed  by  the  rector 
and  was  attended  with  little  display:  plain  black 
velvet  covered  the  coffin,  upon  the  plate  of  which 
were  inscribed  the  name,  age,  and  title  of  Jeffery 
Amherst.2 

In  reviewing  the  General's  life,  one  is  struck  by 
certain  peculiar  features  in  his  career.  The  first  is 
its  division  into  two  distinct  parts,  which  might  be 
respectively  labelled  obscurity  and  prominence.  Sin 
gularly  enough  the  abrupt  line  of  demarcation  divides 

1  Life  and  Correspondence  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  William  Windbam,  i,  286. 
1  Gentleman's  Magazine,  September,  1797,  p.  802. 


326  JEFFERT  AMHERSr 

Amherst's  life  into  two  periods  of  forty  years  each. 
From  1717  until  1757  he  was  first  growing  to  man 
hood  and  later  fighting  on  the  Continent,  with  al 
most  no  prospect  of  distinction  and  fame.  Suddenly, 
in  the  spring  of  1758,  the  unknown  colonel  was 
despatched  to  North  America,  where  he  won  imme 
diate  and  enduring  glory  that  surpassed  the  most 
fanciful  dreams  of  his  youth.  The  perihelion  of  his 
orbit  was  reached  in  September,  1760,  when,  by  a 
triple  combination  of  armies  upon  Montreal,  Am- 
herst  achieved  the  conquest  of  Canada. 

Horace  Walpole's  zealous  devotion  to  his  cousin, 
Henry  Seymour  Conway,  who  in  many  ways  was 
Amherst's  natural  rival,  almost  always  distorted  his 
regard  for  the  General;  but  the  dilettante  of  Straw 
berry  Hill  was  not  far  from  right  when  he  included 
Amherst  among  "those  men  who,  in  particular  in 
stances  in  one  period  of  their  life,  not  only  have 
performed  great  adlions,  but  have  conducted  them 
with  consummate  sense  and  address,  and  who  in 
the  rest  of  their  lives  have  been  able  to  display 
no  symptoms  of  genius."  l  Walpole  was  wrong,  how 
ever,  in  concluding  his  estimate  with  an  insinuation 
that  fortune  rather  than  foresight  was  the  chief 
cause  of  his  victories.  Amherst  was  from  first  to 
last  a  soldier  of  extraordinary  ability,  and  his  ap 
parent  predilection  for  court  favors  instead  of  for  mili 
tary  pursuits,  after  his  return  from  America,  was  due 
to  other  causes  than  incompetency.  Politically  and 

1  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  II,  iii,  28511. 


LAST  TEARS  327 

temperamentally  the  General  was  a  Tory.  He  pos 
sessed  the  domestic  tastes  and  love  of  country-life 
which  one  invariably  associates  with  members  of 
that  party,  and  after  his  five  years  of  active  service 
in  the  New  World,  years  almost  unequalled  in  English 
history  for  consistent  military  achievement,  it  was 
but  fair  that  he  should  enjoy  the  tranquil  delights 
of  "Montreal."  With  untroubled  conscience  he  left 
the  conduct  of  hostilities  in  the  American  Revolution 
to  younger  officers;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
when  his  country  was  in  danger  in  1779,  and  again 
in  1793,  he  neither  lingered  in  his  home  nor  for  one 
moment  shirked  the  responsibilities  which  his  martial 
genius  imposed  upon  him. 

While  in  America  General  Amherst  became  ac 
quainted  with  some  of  the  men  who  were  destined 
to  found  "a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty  and 
dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal."  Among  them  was  Benjamin  Franklin,  with 
whom  the  General  held  pleasant  converse  more  than 
once  during  his  three  years  in  New  York.1  It  does 
not  appear  that  he  ever  met  George  Washington,  but, 
as  the  Virginian  modestly  expressed  it,  "that  General 
Amherst  may  have  heard  of  such  a  person  as  I  am 
is  probable." 2  In  England  his  name  is  associated 
with  those  of  William  Pitt  and  George  III,  and  al- 
although  no  sculptured  marble  preserves  his  likeness 
and  memory  in  abbey  or  public  square,  Canada,  the 

1  Smyth's  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  iv,  202. 

2  Sparks'  Writings  of  George  Washington,  ii,  334. 


328  JEFFERT  AMHERST 

flower  of  the  British  empire,  sweeping  from  the  fer 
tile  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  towering  sum 
mits  of  the  Rockies,  will  ever  remain  a  splendid  and 
inspiring  monument  to  the  energy  and  ability  of 
Jeffery  Amherst. 


INDEX 


Abercromby,  Major-General  James, 
appointed  Commander-in-chief,  55; 
Horace  Walpole's  characterization 
of,  55;  at  the  southern  end  of  Lake 
George,  95;  moves  against  Ticon- 
deroga,  96;  his  sudden  retreat,  97; 
attacks  Montcalm  at  Ticonderoga, 
98-99;  his  retreat  and  losses,  99; 
Wolfe's  characterization  of,  107; 
consults  with  Amherst,  112. 

Adams,  John,  impressed  by  Amherst's 
troops,  in. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  Peace  of,  sign 
ing  of,  20;  Louisburg  returned  to 
France  by,  66. 

Albany,  merchants  of,  complain  of 
Amherst's  land  grants,  198-199. 

Albemarle,  Lord,  commands  expedi 
tion  against  Havana,  207;  enriched 
by  the  fall  of  Havana,  210;  en 
courages  Amherst  to  quarrel  with 
the  Ministry,  259. 

Allen,  Ethan,  his  designs  for  a  new 
colony,  1 68. 

American  Club,  the,  317. 

American  Wood,  the,  at  "Montreal," 
248. 

Americans,  Wolfe's  criticism  of, 
107-108. 

Amherst,  Jeffery,  birth  and  par 
entage,  3;  his  brothers  and  sisters, 
4;  a  page  of  the  Duke  of  Dorset, 
8;  appearance  in  youth,  10;  ap 
pointed  aide-de-camp  to  Ligonier, 
12;  goes  to  Flanders,  12;  well 


spoken  of  after  Dettingen,  13;  at 
Fontenoy,  15;  returns  to  England, 
16;  appointed  lieutenant-colonel, 
18;  goes  to  the  Netherlands,  18; 
aide-de-camp  to  the  Duke  of  Cum 
berland,  19;  Groom  of  the  Bed 
chamber,  21 ;  friendship  with 
Wolfe,  21 ;  marries  Jane  Dalison, 
22;  in  charge  of  Hessian  commis 
sariat,  34;  goes  to  Germany,  34; 
conducts  Hessian  troops  to  Eng 
land,  34-35;  appointed  colonel  of 
the  I5th,  35;  significance  of  his  pro 
motion,  35;  returns  to  Germany, 
37;  at  Stade,  37;  at  Hameln, 
37;  at  the  battle  of  Hastenbeck, 
38;  puzzled  by  Cumberland's 
retreat,  39;  his  opinion  of  Prince 
Ferdinand,  41;  ordered  to  return  to 
England,  42;  given  rank  of  major- 
general,  55;  to  command  Louis- 
burg  expedition,  55;  difficulty 
attending  his  appointment,  58-59; 
questioned  concerning  forage  con 
tracts,  60;  sails  for  America,  61; 
reaches  Halifax,  64;  proceeds 
towards  Louisburg,  65;  recon 
noitres  the  shore  of  Louisburg,  69; 
orders  a  general  landing  made,  71; 
goes  ashore,  73;  his  impressions 
of  the  battle-ground,  73;  estab 
lishes  camp,  74;  orders  Wolfe  to 
attack  the  Island  Battery,  76-77; 
lands  provisions,  etc.,  78;  recon 
noitres  before  the  town,  78;  orders 
a  road  made  to  Green  Hill,  79;  his 


330 


INDEX 


co-operation  with  Boscawen,  81; 
exchanges  courtesies  with  Drucour, 
82;  suggests  that  French  remove 
wounded  from  Louisburg,  82; 
indefatigable  in  the  siege,  83;  dic 
tates  terms  of  surrender,  87; 
assures  Drucour  of  clemency,  88; 
sends  William  Amherst  to  England, 
89;  hopes  to  go  to  Quebec,  94; 
hears  of  Abercromby's  defeat,  94, 
99;  abandons  Quebec  enterprise, 
100;  orders  destruction  of  French 
settlement,  101;  his  temperament 
and  methods,  104-105;  sails  for 
Boston,  109;  in  Boston,  109;  at 
Worcester,  no;  crosses  the  Berk 
shire  Hills,  in;  reviews  army  at 
Lake  George,  112;  his  relations 
with  Governor  Pownall,  113;  ap 
pointed  commander-in-chief  in 
America,  114;  becomes  colonel  of 
the  Royal  Americans,  114;  winters 
at  New  York,  1 16;  thanked  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  116-117; 
places  named  in  honor  of,  117-118; 
his  aversion  for  Indians,  118; 
longs  to  return  to  England,  118; 
emphasizes  importance  of  Quebec 
expedition,  121;  prepares  for  the 
campaign  of  1759,  123;  goes 
to  Philadelphia,  126;  persuades 
Denny  to  disobey  his  instructions, 
128;  confers  with  Indians,  129- 
130;  orders  Johnson  to  enlist 
Indians,  130;  returns  to  New 
York,  130;  goes  to  Albany,  131; 
advances  to  Fort  Edward,  134; 
prohibits  the  use-of  rum,  134-135; 
his  humanity,  136;  advances  to 
Lake  George,  137;  builds  Fort 
George,  137-138;  lays  siege  to 
Ticonderoga,  142;  celebrates  the 
fall  of  Ticonderoga,  144;  advances 


upon  Crown  Point,  144-5; 
possession  of  the  fort,  146;  receives 
news  of  Niagara,  147;  builds  fort 
at  Crown  Point,  148;  causes  of 
his  delay,  149-150;  explores  the 
Adirondacks,  151;  as  a  disciplina 
rian,  152-153;  his  tact,  154;  ap 
pointed  governor  of  Virginia,  155; 
appointed  major-general,  155-156; 
fails  to  aid  Wolfe,  156-158;  his 
potential  aid,  157-158;  wreaks 
vengeance  on  St.  Francis  Indians, 
158-160;  on  Lake  Champlain, 
161-164;  returns  to  Crown  Point, 
164;  meets  Johnson  at  Albany, 
165;  walks  to  New  York,  165; 
refers  Skene  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  166;  plans  campaign  against 
Montreal,  171;  confers  with  John 
son,  172;  orders  reinforcements 
to  Quebec,  174;  divides  forces  at 
Albany,  175;  at  Oswego,  175;  on 
Lake  Ontario,  176;  besieges  Fort 
Levis,  177-179;  disappoints  In 
dians,  179;  descends  the  rapids, 
180-181;  his  treatment  of  the 
Canadians,  180;  before  Montreal, 
181-182;  amends  terms  of  sur 
render,  183;  organizes  government 
of  Canada,  186-188;  his  tad  with 
the  French  Canadians,  188;  visits 
Three  Rivers  and  Quebec,  189- 
190;  at  Isle  aux  Noix,  190;  wel 
comed  to  New  York,  190-191; 
sends  troops  to  West  Indies,  193; 
begrudges  medals  given  to  Indians, 
194;  knighted  by  George  III,  195- 
197;  sends  expedition  to  Mar 
tinique,  197;  encourages  settlement 
in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  197;  grants 
land  near  Niagara,  199;  refers 
Eleazer  Wheelock  to  the  proper 
authorities,  201;  troubled  by  trade 


INDEX 


33i 


with  the  enemy,  201,  203;  lays 
embargo  on  American  shipping, 
206;  sends  troops  to  Havana,  207; 
sends  William  Amherst  to  recover 
Newfoundland,  211;  his  troubles 
with  the  Indians,  213;  his  Indian 
policy,  215;  sends  Cuyler's  de 
tachment  to  supply  western  posts, 
228;  learns  of  Pontiac's  War,  229- 
230;  sends  reinforcements  to  De 
troit,  230;  sends '  relief  to  Fort 
Pitt,  234;  suggests  extermination 
of  Indians  by  smallpox,  235;  orders 
M.  Neyon  to  discourage  Pontiac, 
240;  estimate  of  his  handling  of 
Pontiac's  War,  240-242;  returns  to 
England,  243;  presented  at  court, 
244;  attacked  by  Charles  Lee,  244- 
246;  inherits  family  estate,  246; 
builds  "Montreal,"  246;  com 
memorates  fraternal  reunion,  247; 
his  botanical  interest,  248;  por 
traits  of,  249-250;  made  lieutenant- 
general,  250;  declines  office  in 
Ireland,  250;  marries  Elizabeth 
Gary,  251;  favors  a  colony  in  the 
Northwest,  252;  quarrels  with  the 
Ministry,  254-260;  demands  peer 
age,  etc.,  261;  is  rehabilitated, 
262-263;  asks  for  Jesuit  estates  in 
Canada,  264-266;  made  governor 
of  Guernsey,  266-267;  appointed 
to  the  Ordnance,  267;  member  of 
the  Privy  Council,  267;  as  a 
courtier,  268-269;  George  III  ex 
presses  his  opinion  of,  269;  burnt 
in  effigy,  273;  supports  the  Stamp 
Act,  274;  to  succeed  Gage,  277- 
278;  declines  to  serve  in  America, 
278-280;  alleged  boast  of,  280; 
probable  reason  for  not  going  to 
America,  281-283;  influences  the 
conduct  of  the  American  War,  283, 


285-286;  granted  a  peerage,  286; 
confesses  employment  of  Indians, 
287,  288;  again  declines  American 
command,  289;  advises  new  plan 
of  war,  291-292;  commander-in- 
chief  in  England,  295;  at  the  Privy 
Council  meetings,  297-298;  criti 
cized  by  Keppel,  298;  entertains 
the  King,  299;  disciplines  the 
"King's  friends,"  300;  colonel  of 
the  Horse  Guards,  300;  on  the 
Militia  Bill,  301;  attacked  by 
Richmond,  303-305;  his  defence, 
304;  crushes  the  Gordon  Riots, 
309;  accused  of  disarming  citizens 
illegally,  310;  partly  responsible 
for  England's  defeat  in  the  Am 
erican  War,  311-312;  retires 
to  "Montreal,"  312;  appointed 
"Gold  Stick,"  314;  his  appearance 
and  personality  at  sixty-five,  314- 
315;  his  friendship  with  Hutchin- 
son,  315;  criticized  by  Haldimand 
and  Walpole,  316-317;  president 
of  the  American  Club,  317;  his 
final  efforts  to  possess  the  Jesuit 
Estates,  317-320;  adopts  his 
nephew  and  niece,  320-322; 
reappointed  commander-in-chief, 
322;  unjustly  criticized  for  decline 
of  army,  323-324;  retires,  324; 
death  and  burial  of,  325;  peculiar 
features  in  his  career,  325-326; 
estimate  of  his  ability,  326-328. 

Amherst,  Reverend  Jeffery,  ancestor 
of  Jeffery  Amherst,  3. 

Amherst,  Jeffery,   Sr.,  3;    death   of, 

22. 

Amherst,  John,  brother  of  Jeffery,  4; 
his  early  career,  4;  commands  the 
"Captain"  at  Louisburg,  75;  at 
Sevenoaks,  247-248;  death  of, 
320. 


332 


INDEX 


Amherst,  Lady,  316;  see  also  Gary, 
Elizabeth. 

Amherst,  Richard,  steward  of  the 
Earl  of  Dorset,  4. 

Amherst,  Sackville,  brother  of  Jeffery 
Amherst,  4;  significance  of  his 
name,  4;  inherits  the  estate  at 
Riverhead,  22;  death  of,  246. 

Amherst,  William,  brother  of  Jef 
fery,  5;  aide-de-camp  at  Louisburg, 
89;  sent  to  England  with  news  of 
surrender,  89;  rewarded  by  George 
II,  90-91;  goes  to  Philadelphia, 
126;  takes  news  of  Ticonderoga  to 
England,  144;  recovers  Newfound 
land,  211-212;  at  Sevenoaks,  247- 
248;  his  botanical  interest,  248; 
governor  of  Newfoundland,  320; 
one  of  "the  King's  friends,"  320; 
death  of,  320. 

Amherst,  William  Pitt,  adopted  by 
Lord  Amherst,  320-321;  career 
of,  321. 

Amherst,  Mass.,  named  for  Jeffery 
Amherst,  117. 

Amherst,  N.  H.,  named  for  Jeffery 
Amherst,  117. 

Amherst  County,  Va.,  named  in 
honor  of  Jeffery  Amherst,  117-118. 

"Apollon,"  the,  a  French  ship  sunk 
at  Louisburg,  81. 

"Arethuse,"  a  French  frigate  at 
Louisburg,  79. 

Army  of  Observation,  commanded 
by  Cumberland,  38;  defeated  at 
Hastenbeck,  38;  demoralization  of, 
39;  surrender  of,  40;  regenerated 
by  Ferdinand,  41;  goes  into  winter 
quarters,  42. 

B 

Barrington,  Lord,  his  estimate  of 
Lord  Botetourt,  259;  on  the  con 
duct  of  the  American  War,  282; 


on  the  British  generals  of  the  time, 
296;  suggests  Prince  Ferdinand 
for  chief  command,  296. 

Bastide,  Colonel,  chief  engineer  of 
Louisburg  expedition,  reconnoitres 
before  the  town,  78-79. 

Bath,  Knights  of  the,  installation  of, 
195-196;  regalia  of,  249. 

Berkeley,  Norborne,  see  Botetourt. 

Bernard,  Governor  Francis,  enter 
tains  Amherst,  130;  reveals  illegal 
trade  of  Boston,  205. 

"  Bienfaisant,"  the,  French  man-of- 
war  at  Louisburg,  84;  captured  by 
the  British,  86-87. 

Bloody  Bridge,  the  fight  at,  231-232. 

Boscawen,  Admiral  Edward,  ordered 
to  Louisburg,  55;  called  "Old 
Dreadnought,"  55;  sails  for  Amer 
ica,  61;  reaches  Halifax,  65;  pro 
ceeds  towards  Louisburg,  65;  lends 
Amherst  sailors  and  guns,  81;  his 
co-operation  with  Amherst,  81; 
called  "Old-Wry-necked  Dick,"  81; 
orders  the  capture  of  the  "Pru 
dent"  and  the  "Bienfaisant,"  86; 
contemplates  entering  the  harbor, 
87;  assures  Drucour  of  clemency, 
88;  sends  Captain  Edgecomb  to 
England  with  news  of  Louisburg, 
89-90;  discourages  Quebec  enter 
prise,  100;  returns  to  England,  104. 

Boscawen,  Mrs.,  247. 

"Boscawen,"  the  sloop,  161. 

Boston,  celebrates  the  fall  of  Louis 
burg,  92;  fetes  Amherst  and  his 
men,  109;  celebrates  the  fall  of 
New  France,  185;  riot  in,  254; 
British  soldiers  sent  to,  275. 

Boston  Tea  Party,  the,  276. 

Botetourt,  Lord,  appointed  governor 
of  Virginia,  257;  character  of,  258; 
Barrington's  opinion  of,  259. 


INDEX 


333 


Bouquet,  Colonel  Henry,  234;  his 
hatred  of  the  Indians,  234-235; 
marches  to  the  relief  of  Fort  Pitt, 
235-237;  attacked  at  Edge  Hill, 
237;  his  remarkable  stratagem, 
238;  relieves  Fort  Pitt,  239. 

Bourlamaque,  Chevalier  de,  in  com 
mand  at  Ticonderoga,  139;  aban 
dons  the  fort,  141;  retreats  to 
Crown  Point,  145;  at  Isle  aux  Noix, 
158,  163. 

Braddock's     expedition,     defeat     of, 

33- 

Brant,  Molly,  217. 
"  Brook's  Place,"  home  of  the  Am- 

herst  family,  3;   destroyed,  246. 
Burton,  Colonel,  governor  of  Three 

Rivers,  188. 
Bushy  Run,  the  battle  of,  237-239. 


Campbell,  Captain,  second  in  com 
mand  at  Detroit,  220;  murdered 
by  the  Indians,  225. 

Canada,  constitution  of,  under  Am- 
herst,  187-188. 

"Capricieux,"  the,  French  man-of- 
war  at  Louisburg,  burned,  84. 

"Captain,"  the,  commanded  by  John 
Amherst,  75;  at  Louisburg,  75; 
conveys  Amherst  to  Boston,  109. 

Carrillon,  see  Ticonderoga. 

Cary,  Elizabeth,  second  wife  of 
Amherst,  251. 

Castle,  the,  now  Fort  Independence, 
Amherst  views,  113;  celebrates  the 
fall  of  New  France,  185. 

"Celebre,"  the,  a  French  ship  at 
Louisburg,  blown  up,  83. 

Celoron  de  Bienville,  takes  possession 
of  the  Ohio  Valley,  28. 

Chandler,  Colonel,  entertains  Am 
herst,  no. 


Charlestown,  N.  H.,  see  Number 
Four. 

Chatham,  the  Earl  of,  see  Pitt, 
William. 

Cherokees,  supplies  go  to,  205;  their 
dangerous  uprising,  213. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  his  remarks  on 
the  capture  of  Louisburg,  90. 

Clinton,  General  Henry,  appointed 
commander-in-chief  in  America, 
292;  accounts  for  his  failure  in  the 
American  War,  311-312. 

Golden,  Governor  Cadwallader,  en 
courages  settlement  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley,  197-198;  reprimanded  by 
the  Privy  Council,  198. 

Colville,  Lord,  commands  squadron 
off  Newfoundland,  211-212. 

Conway,  Henry  Seymour,  retires 
from  the  Ordnance,  267;  comman 
der-in-chief,  322;  Amherst's  natural 
rival,  326. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  surrenders  at  York- 
town,  311. 

Cotterel-Dormer,  Sir  Charles,  Am 
herst's  proxy,  196. 

Cotton  bales,  substituted  for  earth 
works,  209. 

Coutume  de  Paris,  continues  in 
force  in  Canada,  186-187. 

Crown  Point,  French  fort  at,  95; 
Bourlamaque  retreats  to,  145; 
abandoned  by  the  French,  146;  oc 
cupied  by  the  English,  146;  Am 
herst  builds  new  fort  at,  148,  150, 
164;  the  proposed  colony  includ 
ing,  168;  progress  of  the  work  at, 
190. 

Crump,  General,  203. 

Cumberland,  William  Augustus, 
Duke  of,  commands  British  con 
tingent  at  Fontenoy,  15;  defeats 
the  Young  Pretender  at  Culloden, 


334 


INDEX 


17;  appointed  commander-in-chief 
of  the  allied  army,  18;  appoints 
Amherst  aide-de-camp,  19;  de 
feated  at  Laffeldt,  19;  urged  to 
take  command  on  the  Continent, 
37;  commands  Army  of  Observa 
tion,  38;  defeated  at  Hastenbeck, 
98;  his  failing  eye-sight,  38;  re 
treats  towards  Stade,  39;  sur 
renders  at  Kloster  Zeven,  40; 
retires  from  military  career,  41; 
the  last  Captain-General,  56-57; 
Amherst  names  fort  for,  179; 
Knight  of  the  Bath,  195. 

Cuyler,  Lieutenant,  commands  expe 
dition  to  supply  Northwest  posts, 
228;  attacked  by  Wyandots,  228. 

Cuyler's  detachment,  captured  by 
the  Wyandots,  228;  fate  of,  228- 
229. 

D 

Dalison,  Jane,  first  wife  of  Jeffery 
Amherst,  22;  death  of,  250. 

Dalling,  Major,  ordered  to  remove 
French  from  Espagnolle,  101. 

Dalyell,  Captain,  Amherst's  aide-de 
camp,  230;  relieves  Detroit,  230; 
attacks  Pontiac,  231;  death  of, 
232;  mutilation  of  his  body,  232. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  appoints  Skene 
lieutenant-governor,  168;  approves 
sending  Amherst  to  America,  277; 
resigns,  283-284. 

Dartmouth  College,  founded,  201. 

Declaratory  Act,  the,  274. 

Denny,  Governor,  of  Pennsylvania, 
127;  his  dilemma,  127;  disobeys 
his  instructions,  128;  loses  his 
office,  128;  connected  with  illegal 
trade,  205. 

Des  Gouttes,  French  naval  com 
mander  at  Louisburg,  77-78. 


Detroit,  English  fort  at,  220;  at 
tacked  by  Pontiac,  225;  first  relief 
comes  to,  229;  Amherst  sends 
reinforcements  to,  230;  Lee  sug 
gests  new  government  at,  245. 

Dettingen,  battle  of,  Amherst's  first 
taste  of  war,  13;  significance  of, 

13-14- 
Dinwiddie,    Governor    of    Virginia, 

sends    Washington     to     Fort    Le 

Boeuf,  31;    sends  soldiers  to  Fort 

Duquesne,  32. 
Dominica,    expedition    against,    192, 

193- 

Dongan,  Governor  Thomas,  takes 
the  Iroquois  under  the  protection 
of  the  King  of  England,  26. 

Dorchester,  Lord,  Governor  of  Que 
bec,  318;  dislikes  Amherst,  319. 

Dorset,  Duke  of,  see  Sackville,  Lionel 
Cranfield. 

Drucour,  Chevalier  de,  governor  of 
Louisburg,  68;  blockades  the 
harbor,  80-8 1 ;  exchanges  courtesies 
with  Amherst,  82;  asks  immunity 
for  hospital,  82;  proposes  terms 
of  surrender,  87;  surrenders  to 
Amherst  and  Boscawen,  88-89. 

Drucour,  Madame,  Amherst  expresses 
solicitude  for  the  comfort  of,  82; 
sends  wine  to  Amherst,  82. 

"Dublin,"  the,  conveys  Amherst  to 
America,  61-65;  at  Rochefort,  61; 
commanded  by  Rodney,  62;  cap 
tures  a  prize,  62-63;  meets  a 
Virginia  ship,  64;  Amherst  leaves, 
65. 

"  Duke  of  Cumberland,"  the  brigan- 
tine,  161. 

Dundas,  Henry,  324. 

"Dunkirk  of  America,"  the,  a  name 
for  Louisburg,  65,  68,  86,  91, 
190. 


INDEX 


33S 


Duquesne  de  Menneville,  Marquis, 
governor  of  Canada,  29;  his  aggres 
sive  policy  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  30; 
his  expedition  commits  first  overt 
act  of  war,  31. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  erected  by  the 
French,  32;  Braddock's  defeat 
before,  33;  Pitt  plans  capture  of, 
54;  evacuated  by  the  French,  116. 


Easton,  theTreaty  of,  129;  provisions 
of,  214. 

Ecuyer,  Captain,  in  command  of  Fort 
Pitt,  232;  his  enjoyment  of  the 
siege,  233. 

Edgecomb,  Captain,  sent  to  England 
with  news  of  Louisburg,  90;  re 
warded  by  George  II,  90. 

Edge  Hill,  the  battle  at,  see  Bushy 
Run. 

Edward,  Fort,  Indian  depredations 
near,  118;  Amherst  halts  at,  134. 

England,  enters  War  of  Austrian  Suc 
cession,  n;  declares  war  against 
France,  34;  makes  an  alliance  with 
Prussia,  36;  declares  war  against 
Spain,  206. 

"  Entreprenant,"  the,  French  man-of- 
war,  burned  at  Louisburg,  84. 

d'Estrees,  Marshal,  forces  battle  on 
Cumberland  at  Hastenbeck,  38. 


Fauquier,  Francis,  governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  258. 

Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Brunswick, 
commands  Army  of  Observation, 
41;  Amherst's  opinion  of,  41; 
suggested  for  chief  command  in 
England,  296. 

Feudalism,  disintegration  of  in  Can 
ada,  186-187. 


Fontenoy,  the  battle  of,  15-16. 

Foot  Guards,  the,  Amherst  an  ensign 
in,  8;  origin  and  history  of,  8-9; 
uniform  of,  10;  ordered  to  the 
Continent,  11. 

Forbes,  Brigadier-General  John, 
ordered  to  attack  Fort  Duquesne, 
54;  his  campaign,  115-116;  founds 
Pittsburgh,  116. 

Fort  Royal,  197. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  agent  for  Penn 
sylvania,  251;  supports  project  for 
a  colony  in  the  Northwest,  252- 
253;  discourages  the  enforcement 
of  the  Stamp  Adi,  274;  his  acquaint 
ance  with  Amherst,  327. 

Franklin,  William,  governor  of  New 
Jersey,  plans  colony  in  the  North 
west,  251. 

Frederic,  Fort,  see  Crown  Point. 

French  America,  expansion  of,  25-29; 
effect  of  Treaty  of  Utrecht  upon, 
27;  effect  of  campaign  of  1758 
upon,  116. 

Freshwater  Cove,  71;  Wolfe  lands  at, 

71-73- 

Fry,  Colonel  Joshua,  commands 
Virginia  Regiment,  32. 


Gabarus  Bay,  68;  English  fleet 
anchors  in,  69. 

Gage,  Brigadier-General  Thomas,  in 
council  of  war,  112;  in  command 
at  Albany,  165;  with  Amherst  at 
Oswego,  176;  governor  of  Mon 
treal,  1 88;  commander-in-chief  in 
North  America,  243;  visits  "Mon 
treal,"  246;  favors  a  colony  in  the 
Northwest,  251;  closes  the  port  of 
Boston,  276;  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  276. 


336 


INDEX 


Gainsborough,  his  portrait  of  Am- 
herst,  249. 

Galissoniere,  Marquis  de  la,  governor 
of  Canada,  sends  expedition  to 
take  possession  of  the  Ohio  Valley, 
28. 

Gaspe,  French  settlement  at,  de 
stroyed  by  Wolfe,  103. 

Genevay,  Captain,  318. 

George  II,  at  LDettingen,  13;  ready 
for  peace,  19-20;  urges  Cum 
berland  to  command  Army  of 
Observation,  37;  remarks  about 
Cumberland,  41;  retains  nominal 
supremacy  in  the  army,  57;  con 
sents  to  Amherst's  appointment, 
59;  rewards  William  Amherst  and 
Captain  Edgecomb,  90-91. 

George  III,  character  of,  244;  smiles 
upon  Amherst,  244;  his  political 
methods  259-260;  his  opinion  of 
Amherst,  269;  decides  to  discipline 
America,  276;  asks  Amherst  to  go 
to  America,  278,  289;  asks  Am 
herst's  advice  on  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  291-292;  at  Privy  Council 
meetings,  298;  visits  "Montreal," 
299;  as  a  political  boss,  300;  nulli 
fies  the  Riot  Act,  309. 

George,  Fort,  begun  by  Amherst,  137; 
its  existence  justified,  138;  in- 
spedled  by  Amherst,  164. 

Germain,  Lord  George,  see  Sackville, 
Lord  George. 

Germans,  colony  of  in  Acadia, 
103. 

Gist,  Christopher,  sent  by  Ohio  Com 
pany  to  explore  western  lands. 

Gladwin,  Major,  learns  of  Pontiac's 
conspiracy,  220-221;  outwits  Pon- 
tiac,  223;  proposes  a  truce,  225; 
yields  to  Dalyell,  231;  makes  a 
truce  with  Indians,  239-240. 


Gloucester,  Duchess  of,  see  Walpole, 
Maria. 

Gloucester,  Duke  of,  marries  Maria 
Walpole,  268;  hopes  to  be  com- 
mander-in-chief,  295. 

"Gold  Stick,"  the,  314. 

Gordon,  Lieutenant,  tortured  by  the 
Indians,  227-228. 

Gordon,  Lord  George,  306. 

Gordon  Riots,  the,  306-310. 

Grafton,  the  Duke  of,  261. 

Grand  Battery,  the,  part  of  the  de 
fences  of  Louisburg,  67;  abandoned 
by  the  French,  75-76. 

Graves,  Captain,  governor  of  New 
foundland,  211-212. 

Great  Meadows,  Washington  at,  32. 

Green  Hill,  a  strategic  point  before 
Louisburg,  79;  a  road  made  to, 
79-80;  lodgment  effected  upon,  80. 

Grenville,  George,  prime  minister, 
his  opinion  of  Amherst,  250;  insti 
tutes  the  "New  Policy,"  270; 
dismissed,  273. 

Guernsey,  the  Island  of,  Amherst 
appointed  governor  of,  266-267. 

H 

Haldimand,  Colonel,  at  Oswego,  147; 

takes   possession  of  the   gates   of 

Montreal,     184;     entertained     by 

Amherst,    316;     his    criticisms   of 

Amherst,  316-317. 
Hanover,     Electorate     of,     perilous 

position  of,  34. 
Hardy,    Vice-Admiral    Sir    Charles, 

ordered  to  blockade  Louisburg,  61; 

his  squadron  at  the  siege,  75,  81; 

baffles  the  Bourbon  armada,  303. 
Harvey,  General,  on  the  futility  of 

land  campaigns,  281. 
Hastenbeck,  battle  of,  38;  Louisburg 

surrendered  on  anniversary  of,  89; 


INDEX 


337 


Ticonderoga  blown  up  on  anniver 
sary  of,  143. 

Haussonville,  the  Comte  de,  captures 
Newfoundland,  211;  surrenders  to 
William  Amherst,  212. 

Havana,  British  expedition  against, 
207-210;  surrender  of,  210. 

Haviland,  Colonel,  171;  troops  as 
signed  to,  175;  drives  the  French 
from  Isle  aux  Noix,  179-180;  before 
Montreal,  181. 

Hessians,  in  British  service,  34; 
Amherst  in  charge  of  commissariat, 
34;  sent  to  England,  34-35;  return 
to  Germany,  37. 

Hill,  Wills,  see  Hillsborough. 

Hillsborough,  Earl  of,  opposes 
scheme  for  a  colony  in  the  North 
west,  252-253;  his  letter  to 
Amherst,  255-256;  quarrels  with 
Amherst,  256-260;  at  the  meetings 
of  the  Privy  Council,  297. 

Holburne,  Admiral,  fails  to  capture 
Louisburg,  75. 

Holdernesse,  Lord,  Secretary  of  State, 
45;  orders  Amherst  to  return  to 
England,  42,  59. 

Hopkins,  Governor  Stephen,  justifies 
illicit  trade,  205. 

Howe,  Brigadier  Lord,  aide-de-camp 
of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  18; 
actual  leader  of  Abercromby's 
army,  95;  character  of,  95; 
changes  soldiers'  uniforms  to  suit 
wilderness  warfare,  95;  moves 
against  Ticonderoga,  96;  death 
and  burial,  97. 

Howe,  General  William,  knighted  at 
New  York,  197;  his  inefficiency, 
289;  recalled,  292. 

Howe,  Viscount,  confers  knighthood 
upon  General  Howe,  197;  president 
of  the  American  Club. 


Hutchinson,  Thomas,  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  appreciates  impor 
tance  of  Amherst's  army-in-being, 
157-158;  his  house  demolished  by 
a  mob,  273;  discusses  the  American 
War  with  Amherst,  283;  his  friend 
ship  with  Amherst,  315. 


lie  St.  Jean,  see  Prince  Edward 
Island. 

Indians,  at  Louisburg,  67;  near  Fort 
Edward,  118;  Amherst's  contempt 
for,  118;  Amherst  confers  with  at 
Philadelphia  129-130;  employed 
before  Niagara,  147;  join  Am 
herst's  forces  at  Oswego,  176; 
disgusted  with  Amherst's  hu 
manity,  179;  receive  medals  for 
services,  194;  Amherst's  troubles 
with,  213;  their  grievances,  213- 
215;  employment  of  criticized, 
286-289. 

"Invincible,"  the,  a  radeau,  140. 

Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  become 
English  subjects,  25-26;  hostility 
to  the  French,  26;  their  domain, 
26;  France  recognizes  as  English 
subjects,  27;  their  wavering  al 
legiance,  129;  land  granted  to  near 
Niagara,  199;  assured  of  their 
lands,  214. 

Island  Battery,  the,  part  of  the  de 
fences  of  Louisburg,  67;  Wolfe 
bombards,  and  silences,  78. 

Isle  aux  Noix,  Bourlamaque's  defences 
at,  163;  Haviland  captures,  179- 
180;  fortifications  destroyed  at, 
190. 

J 

Jesuit  estates  in  Canada,  the,  extent 
of,  264-265;  confiscation  of,  265; 
sought  by  Amherst,  265-266;  Am- 


338 


INDEX 


herst's  final  effort  to  possess,  317- 
320;  their  value,  319. 

Jesuits,  condemned  by  France,  265. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  129;  meets 
Amherst  at  Schenectady,  132;  to 
provide  Indians  for  Niagara  cam 
paign,  133;  takes  command  before 
Niagara,  147;  congratulated  by 
Amherst,  165;  brings  Indians  to 
Oswego,  176;  sent  to  Detroit  on 
Indian  business,  194;  his  Indian 
policy,  216-219;  his  career,  217- 
218;  plans  colony  in  the  Northwest, 
251;  tries  to  procure  land  for 
Indians,  264. 

Junius,  champions  Amherst,  260. 

K 

Kemble,  Major,  246. 

Keppel,  Admiral,  298. 

Kerril,  Elizabeth,  mother  of  Jeffery 
Amherst,  3;  death  of,  22. 

"Kings  friends,"  the,  260;  dis 
ciplined  by  Amherst,  300;  William 
Amherst,  one  of,  320. 

Kloster  Zeven,  Convention  of,  39- 
41;  George  II  disavows,  41;  Mon 
treal  surrenders  on  anniversary  of, 
184. 

"Knole,"  the  seat  of  the  Duke  of 
Dorset,  4,  247. 

Knox,  Captain  John,  the  soldier- 
historian,  78;  describes  the  terrain 
at  Louisburg,  78. 


Laffeldt,  battle  of,  Cumberland  de 
feated  at,  19. 

Lake  George,  the  battle  of,  217- 
218. 

La  Salle,  Sieur  de,  takes  possession  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  for  Louis 
XIV,  25. 


Lawrence,  Charles,  appointed  briga 
dier  in  Louisburg  expedition,  55; 
reconnoitres  the  shore  of  Louisburg, 
69;  makes  a  landing,  73. 

Le  Boeuf,  Fort,  French  erect,  30; 
Washington  appears  at,  30-31; 
captured  by  the  Indians,  227. 

Lee,  Major  Charles,  makes  trouble 
for  Amherst,  244-245;  his  coloniz 
ing  schemes,  245;  president  of  the 
American  Club,  317. 

Levis,  Chevalier  de,  sent  to  defend 
Montreal,  158;  attempts  to  recap 
ture  Quebec,  173-175;  objects  to 
terms  of  surrender  of  Montreal, 
183;  burns  French  flags,  184;  his 
mendacious  explanation,  185;  his 
discourtesy,  185. 

Levis,  Fort,  captured  by  Amherst, 
177-179;  renamed  William  Augus 
tus,  179. 

"  Liberty,"  the  seizure  of  the,  254. 

Lighthouse  Point,  at  Louisburg, 
Wolfe  seizes,  77. 

Ligonier,  General  John,  early  military 
career  of,  12;  chooses  Amherst  as 
aide-de-camp,  12;  returns  to  Eng 
land  to  oppose  the  Young  Pre 
tender,  16;  goes  to  the  Netherlands, 
18;  saves  the  army  at  Laffeldt,  19; 
appointed  commander-in-chief,  56- 
57;  advises  Pitt  in  the  selection  of 
commanders,  56-59;  brings  Am 
herst  to  the  notice  of  Pitt,  58; 
stands  sponsor  for  Amherst,  59; 
governor  of  Guernsey,  267;  death 
of,  267. 

Lindsay,  Sir  David,  305. 

London,  Lord,  makes  unsuccessful 
attack  upon  Louisburg,  54;  re 
called,  55. 

Louisburg,  London  fails  to  capture, 
54;  Pitt  plans  campaign  against, 


INDEX 


339 


55;  situation  of,  66;  captured  by 
New  Englanders,  66;  returned  to 
France,  66;  its  strength,  67;  its 
weakness,  67;  its  fortifications,  68; 
initial  losses  of  the  British  before, 
74;  siege  of  begins,  74;  French 
garrison  at,  74;  French  fleet  at, 
74;  nature  of  the  terrain  about,  78; 
British  camp  before,  78;  French 
make  sortie  from,  81;  climax  of 
the  siege  of,  84-87;  pitiable  condi 
tion  of,  86;  negotiations  for  the 
surrender  of,  87-89;  surrender  of, 
89;  effect  of  the  surrender  in  Eng 
land,  90;  England  celebrates  the 
capture  of,  91;  American  rejoicing 
at  the  news  from,  91-92;  a  resort 
of  privateers,  91;  "The  Reduction 
of  Louisburg,"  92-93;  its  defences 
completely  demolished,  190:  Am- 
herst  asks  for  coal-mines  at,  261. 
"  Lowestoffe,"  the,  relieves  Quebec, 

175- 
Lyttelton,  Sir  Richard,  266. 

M 

Mansfield,  Lord,  Chief  Justice,  his 
house  destroyed,  307. 

Martinique,  Pitt  plans  expedition 
against,  192-193;  the  British  cap 
ture,  197. 

Maryland  declines  to  furnish  troops, 
125,  128. 

Messerve,  Colonel,  commands  New 
Hampshire  carpenters  at  Louis- 
burg,  80;  dies  of  smallpox,  80. 

Miami,  Fort,  226. 

Michilimackinac,  Fort,  massacre  at, 
226. 

Militia  Bill  of  1779,  301. 

"Mohawk,"  the,  on  Lake  Ontario, 
176;  in  the  Thousand  Islands, 
177. 


Monckton,  Robert,  at  Dettingen,  14; 
governor  of  New  York,  196;  con 
fers  knighthood  on  Amherst,  196; 
commands  troops  at  Marti 
nique,  197. 

Montcalm,  Marquis  de,  captures  Fort 
William  Henry,  54;  his  forces  in 
1758,  96;  fortifies  himself  at  Ticon- 
deroga,  97-98;  repulses  Aber- 
cromby,  98-99;  his  losses,  99; 
death  of,  157. 

Montreal,  British  concentrate  before, 
181-182;  appearance  of,  182;  its 
fortifications,  182;  surrenders  to 
Amherst,  183. 

"Montreal,"  Amherst's  house,  built, 
246-247;  George  III  visits,  299. 

Montresor,  Colonel,  144. 

Moor's  School,  200. 

Moore,  Commodore,  203. 

Morro  Castle,  the  chief  fortification 
of  Havana,  208;  besieged  by  the 
British,  208-210;  surrender  of,  210. 

Munchausen,  Baron,  Hanoverian 
minister  at  London,  renders  an 
account,  60. 

Murray,  Brigadier,  to  attack  Mon 
treal  from  the  east,  171;  attacked 
at  Quebec  by  the  French,  172-174; 
approaches  Montreal,  179,  181; 
governor  of  Quebec,  188;  on  Am 
herst's  being  commander-in-chief, 
296. 

N 

"Namur,"  the,  Boscawen's  flag 
ship,  65;  Amherst  goes  on  board, 
65;  size  of,  75. 

Necessity,  Fort,  Washington  builds, 
32;  surrendered  to  the  French,  33. 

Netherlands,  the,  join  in  the  Ameri 
can  War,  311. 

Nevill,  Valentine,  author  of  "The 
Reduction  of  Louisburg,"  92. 


340 


INDEX 


Newcastle,  the  Duke  of,  dismisses 
Pitt,  43;  resigns,  44;  forms  coali 
tion  with  Pitt,  46;  declines  to 
attend  Cabinet  meeting,  58;  en 
dorses  Pitt's  program  for  1758,  59; 
demands  explanation  of  Amherst's 
forage  contracts,  60. 

Newfoundland,  captured  by  the 
French,  211;  recovered  by  William 
Amherst,  211-212. 

New  Hampshire,  claims  land  west  of 
the  Connecticut,  167. 

New  Orleans,  founded  by  the  French, 
27. 

"New  Policy,"  the,  270-272. 

New  York,  celebrates  the  fall  of 
Louisburg,  92;  gives  Amherst  the 
freedom  of  the  city,  190-191;  illicit 
trade  of,  204. 

New  York,  Province  of,  claims  title 
to  the  New  Hampshire  grants,  167. 

Neyon,  M.,  French  commandant  in 
the  Illinois  country,  discourages 
Pontiac's  War,  240. 

Niagara,  Amherst  plans  campaign 
against,  131-133;  Prideaux  lays 
siege  to,  147;  surrender  of,  148. 

North,  Lord,  prime  minister,  decides 
to  discipline  America,  276;  pro 
poses  conciliation,  291;  on  the 
British  generals,  296;  at  a  Privy 
Council  meeting,  297;  resigns, 
312. 

Number  Four,  Amherst  constructs 
road  from  Crown  Point  to,  150-151; 
Rogers  retreats  to,  161. 


Obelisk,  the,  at  Montreal,  247-248. 

Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.,  Amherst  halts 
at,  176. 

Ohio  Company,  formation  and  activ 
ity  of,  29. 


"Old    Dreadnought,"    nickname   for 

Admiral  Boscawen,  55. 
"Old  Wry-necked   Dick,"  nickname 

for  Admiral  Boscawen,  81. 
"Onondaga,"  the,  on  Lake  Ontario, 

176;  in  the  Thousand  Islands,  177. 
Oswego,  fort  to  be  built  at,  133,  147; 

nature  of  defences  at,  175. 
"Ottawa,"  the,  178. 
Ottawas,  the,  continue  war  against 

the  English,  240. 
Otter  Creek,  Amherst  sends  exploring 

party  to,  151. 
Ouatanon,  226. 


Penn,  Thomas,  reports  trade  with 
the  enemy,  204. 

Pennsylvania,  declines  to  furnish 
quota  of  troops,  125;  political 
situation  in,  127. 

Philadelphia,  celebrates  the  fall  of 
Louisburg,  92;  Amherst  visits, 
126-130;  illicit  trade  of,  204-205. 

Pitt,  William,  the  Elder,  Cumberland 
objects  to  service  under,  37;  dis 
missed  by  Newcastle,  43;  becomes 
Secretary  of  State,  44;  dismissed, 
45;  forms  coalition  with  Newcastle, 
46;  character  of,  47-53,  his  elo 
quence,  47-49;  his  mastery  of  men, 
49;  political  standards,  49-50;  his 
inconsistencies,  50-51;  his  nervous 
irritability,  51-52;  his  ill  health, 
52,  53;  dazzled  by  royalty  52-53; 
his  judicious  selection  of  officers,  56; 
aided  by  Sir  John  Ligonier,  56-59; 
will  not  appoint  Amherst  without 
Newcastle's  consent,  58-59;  con 
gratulated  by  Temple,  90;  con 
gratulates  Amherst,  114;  orders 
Wolfe  to  attack  Quebec,  120;  plans 
campaign  for  1759,  120-122;  calls 


INDEX 


for  provincial  troops,  124-125;  his 
instructions  for  the  campaign  of 
1760,  171;  plans  attack  on  the 
West  Indies,  192;  sends  insignia  of 
the  Bath  to  New  York,  196;  in 
vestigates  trade  with  the  enemy, 
204-205;  Amherst  dedicates  obe 
lisk  to,  247;  urges  Amherst  to  go 
to  Ireland,  251;  on  Amherst's  dis 
missal,  263;  resigns  from  premier 
ship,  263;  and  the  Rockingham 
Whigs,  273;  breaks  down,  275; 
on  the  futility  of  a  land  war  in 
America,  282;  condemns  employ 
ment  of  Indians  in  American  War, 
286-289;  last  speech  and  death  of, 
293-294,  296. 

Pitt,  William,  the  Younger,  prime 
minister,  causes  the  decline  of  the 
army,  323-324. 

Pitt,  Fort,  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
232;  besieged  233;  relieved  by 
Bouquet,  239. 

Pittsburgh,  founded,  116. 

Plains  of  Abraham,  the,  battle  of,  157. 

Plymouth,  closed  to  navigation,  302; 
its  defenceless  condition,  303-305. 

Pocock,  Admiral  Sir  George,  con 
voys  expedition  against  Havana, 
207;  enriched  by  fall  of  Havana, 
210. 

Pontiac,  chief  of  the  Ottawas,  heads 
Indian  discontent,  219;  plans  mas 
sacre  at  Detroit,  220-221;  out 
witted  by  Gladwin,  223-224; 
openly  attacks  Detroit,  225;  dis 
couraged  by  M.  Neyon,  240. 

Pontiac's  War,  causes  of,  213-217; 
breaks  out  at  Detroit,  225;  course 
of  in  the  Lake  Region,  226-228; 
news  of  reaches  Amherst,  229; 
around  Fort  Pitt,  232-239;  wane 
of,  239-240;  ended  by  the  Neyon 


letter,  240;  its  connection  with  the 
"New  Policy,"  271. 

Pouchot,  Captain,  defends  Niagara, 
147;  surrenders,  148;  defends 
Fort  Levis,  177;  surrenders  to 
Amherst,  178-179;  increases  Am 
herst's  apprehensions  of  the  rapids, 
179. 

Pownall,  John,  member  of  Parlia 
ment,  277. 

Pownall,  Thomas,  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts-Bay,  no;  his  relations 
with  Amherst,  113;  his  activity, 
124-125. 

Presqu'isle,  French  erect  fort  at,  30; 
Indians  capture  British  fort  at, 
226-227. 

Prideaux,  Brigadier-General,  in 
charge  of  Niagara  expedition,  133; 
lays  siege  to  Niagara,  147;  his 
death,  147. 

Prince  Edward  Island,  surrendered 
with  Louisburg,  89;  its  importance 
to  the  French,  102;  Lord  Rollo 
removes  population  from,  102-103. 

Privateers,  bring  mechant-men  into 
New  York,  124;  in  the  American 
War,  283. 

Privy  Council,  the,  its  meetings  under 
George  III,  297-298;  its  opinion 
on  the  Riot  Act,  308-309. 

Proclamation  of  1763,  less  acceptable 
than  Amherst's  constitution  in 
Canada,  188;  traceable  to  order 
in  council  of  1761,  198;  defines 
limit  of  colonization,  215,  251. 

Provost,  Brigadier,  Wolfe's  characteri 
zation  of,  107. 

"Prudent,"  the,  French  man-of-war 
at  Louisburg,  84;  captured  and 
burned,  86. 

Putnam,  Major  Israel,  commands 
rangers,  96. 


342 


INDEX 


Quebec,  the  capital  of  New  France, 
27;  to  be  attacked  after  Louisburg, 
55;  Amherst  hopes  to  capture,  94; 
Boscawen  discourages  enterprise 
against,  100;  Pitt  orders  attack 
upon,  120;  surrenders  to  the 
English,  157;  Levis  attempts  to 
recapture,  173-175;  Amherst  visits, 
190. 

R 

Revolution,  the  American,  causes  of, 
270-277;  futility  of  British  land 
campaigns  in,  281-283;  course  of, 
286;  France  enters,  290-291;  last 
years  of,  292-293,  311-312;  Am- 
herst's  influence  upon  the  course 
of,  283,  285-286,  292. 

Reynolds,  Joshua,  paints  portrait  of 
Amherst,  249;  his  portraits  of 
Maria  Walpole,  268. 

Rice,  Lieutenant,  of  Connecticut, 
wrestles  with  an  English  major, 

154- 

Richmond,  the  Duke  of,  Whig  leader, 
opposes  the  Militia  Bill,  301;  at 
tacks  Amherst,  303-305;  questions 
Amherst's  method  of  suppressing 
the  Gordon  Riots,  3 10. 

Riot  Act,  the,  its  dangerous  pro 
visions,  308;  ignored  by  George 
HI,  309. 

Riverhead,  Jeffery  Amherst  born  at, 

3- 
Rochefort,     unsuccessful    expedition 

against,  53. 

Rockingham,  the  Marquess  of,  273. 
Rodney,    Captain    George    Brydges, 

commands     the     "Dublin,"     62; 

sketch  of,  62;    captures   a   prize, 

62-63;  commands  prison-ships  after 

Louisburg,    100;    commands    fleet 

at  Martinique,  197. 


Rogers,  Major  Robert,  skirmishes 
with  the  French,  124;  attacks  St. 
Francis  Indians,  158-160;  retreats 
to  Number  Four,  161;  sent  to 
Detroit,  189;  takes  possession  of 
western  posts,  215;  at  the  siege  of 
Detroit,  230,  232. 

Rollo,  Colonel  Lord,  removes  in 
habitants  from  Prince  Edward 
Island,  101,  102-103;  leads  expedi 
tion  against  Dominica  and  Santa 
Lucia,  193. 

Roosevelt,  Nicholas,  190. 

Royal  Americans,  the,  Amherst  be 
comes  colonel  of,  114. 

Rum,  given  to  soldiers  at  Boston, 
109;  Amherst  prohibits  use  of, 

I34-I35- 

S 

Sable  River,  Amherst  sends  exploring 
party  to,  151. 

Sackville,  Lord  George,  speaks  well 
of  Amherst,  13;  capacity  at  Det- 
tingen,  14;  Amherst  writes  impres 
sions  of  America  to,  118;  early 
life  of,  284;  secretary  of  state,  285; 
at  a  Privy  Council  meeting,  297; 
chief  defect  of  his  administration, 
311;  demands  a  peerage,  312;  his 
final  humiliation,  313. 

Sackville,  Lionel  Cranfield,  first  Duke 
of  Dorset,  neighbor  of  Jeffery 
Amherst,  Sr.,  4;  his  residence, 
"  Knole,"  4;  a  factor  in  the  life  of 
Amherst,  4;  patron  of  Amherst,  8; 
Lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  8. 

St.  Francis  Indians,  attacked  by 
Rogers,  158-160. 

St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  211,  212. 

St.  Joseph's,  massacre  at,  226. 

St.  Lawrence,  the  rapids  of  the,  179; 
Amherst  descends,  180-181;  as 
imagined  by  Reynolds,  249. 


INDEX 


343 


St.  Lusson,  Daumont  de,  takes  pos 
session  of  the  Lake  Region,  25. 

St.  Maurice,  iron  mines  at,  189. 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Louisburg  colors 
deposited  in,  91. 

St.  Pierre,  197. 

Sainte-Foy,  Levis  defeats  Murray  at, 
174. 

Sandusky,  Fort,  massacre  at,  226. 

Sandwich,  Lord,  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  297. 

Santa  Lucia,  expedition  against,  192. 

Schuyler,  Colonel,  repairs  Ticon- 
deroga,  144. 

Scott,  Major,  at  Louisburg,  72. 

Senecas,  the,  join  Pontiac's  con 
spiracy,  220;  capture  Venango,  227. 

Seven  Years'  War,  causes  of  in 
America,  24. 

Shelburne,  Lord,  favors  creation  of  a 
colony  in  the  Northwest,  251-252; 
sustains  Pitt  in  the  Indian  con 
troversy,  288. 

Skene,  Major  Philip,  founds  Skenes- 
borough,  now  Whitehall,  N.  Y., 
165-168;  lieutenant-governor  of 
Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga, 
168;  imprisoned  by  the  Continental 
Congress,  169. 

Smallpox,  in  British  camp  before 
Louisburg,  80;  suggested  as  means 
of  exterminating  Indians,  235. 

Spain,  joins  in  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
206;  declareswaruponEngland,3OO. 

Spruce  beer,  a  substitute  for  rum,  135. 

Stamp  A  A,  the,  272;  its  effect  in 
America,  272-273;  Amherst's  opin 
ion  of,  274;  repeal  of,  274. 

Stanwix,  Brigadier,  asks  Amherst  to 
go  to  Philadelphia,  126. 

Stark,  Captain  John,  constructs  road 
from  Crown  Point  to  Number 
Four,  151. 


Staten  Island,  British  camp  on,  194. 


Temple,  Lord,  effect  of  Louisburg 
news  upon,  90;  his  friendship  with 
Amherst,  274. 

Ternay,  the  Chevalier  de,  captures 
Newfoundland,  211;  escapes  from 
the  British  squadron,  212. 

Thousand  Islands,  the,  177. 

Three  Rivers,  187;  Amherst  visits, 
189. 

Ticonderoga,  French  fort  at,  95; 
Montcalm's  defences  at,  97-98; 
Abercromby  attacks,  98-99;  its 
location  and  strength,  139;  aban 
doned  by  the  French,  141;  blown 
up,  142-143;  repaired  by  the  Eng 
lish,  144,  164;  the  proposed  colony 
including,  168. 

Townshend,  George,  at  Dettingen, 
14-15;  aide-de-camp  of  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland,  19. 

Townshend,  Colonel  Roger,  killed 
before  Ticonderoga,  141-142. 

Trade  with  the  enemy,  in  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  201-206;  pro 
hibited,  202;  Pitt  orders  investiga 
tion  of,  204. 

Trent,  Captain,  attempts  to  build  a 
fort  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  31; 
activities  interrupted  by  the 
French,  32. 

Twistleton,  Colonel,  3 10. 

U 

Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  effect  upon  New 
France,  27. 


Vaudreuil,  Marquis  de,  governor  of 
New  France,  173;  proposes  terms 
of  surrender,  182. 


344 


INDEX 


Velasco,  Don  Luis  de,  commands 
Morro  Castle,  208;  death  of,  209- 
210. 

Venango,  Fort,  captured  by  the 
Indians,  227. 

Versailles,  Second  Treaty  of,  36. 

W 

Waldegrave,  the  Countess,  see  Wai- 
pole,  Maria. 

Walpole,  Horace,  his  remarks  on  the 
capture  of  Ticonderoga  and  Niag 
ara,  156;  finds  London  celebrating 
the  fall  of  Montreal,  186;  his  name 
for  Lady  Amherst,  251;  on  Am 
herst's  quarrel  with  the  Ministry, 
261;  explains  Amherst's  refusal  to 
go  to  America,  279;  criticizes 
Amherst  as  a  host,  317;  his  final 
estimate  of  Amherst,  326. 

Walpole,  Maria,  268. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  significance  of 
his  policy,  6. 

War  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  cause 
of,  n;  England  enters,  II. 

Washington,  George,  sent  to  Fort  Le 
Boeuf,  30;  leads  advance  against 
French,  32;  surrenders  Fort  Neces 
sity*  33  >  with  Forbes'  expedition 
against  Fort  Duquesne,  115;  his 
reply  to  Amherst's  boast,  280. 

"Weasel,"  the,  243. 

Wedgewood,  makes  medallion  of 
Amherst,  250. 

Wedderburn,  the  Attorney-General, 
309. 

West,  Benjamin,  paints  portrait  of 
Amherst,  249-250. 

Wheelock,  Eleazer,  asks  Amherst  for 
grant  of  land,  199-201;  founds 
Dartmouth  College,  201. 

Whitehall,  N.  Y.,  founding  of,  167. 


Whitmore,  Brigadier,  sent  on  Louis- 
burg  expedition,  55;  makes  a  land 
ing,  73;  Wolfe's  characterization 
of,  107. 

Wilkes,  John,  253;  heads  malcon 
tents,  254. 

Wolfe,  James,  at  Dettingen,  14; 
friendship  with  Amherst,  21;  re 
joices  in  Amherst's  promotion,  35; 
appointed  brigadier  in  Louisburg 
expedition,  55;  comments  upon 
trans-Atlantic  voyage,  64;  re 
connoitres  the  shore  of  Louisburg, 
69;  makes  a  landing,  71-73;  seizes 
Lighthouse  Point,  77;  bombards 
French  ships,  77;  silences  the 
Island  Battery,  78;  characterizes 
the  French  in  war,  83;  seizes  ad 
vanced  position,  83;  blows  up  the 
"Celebre,"  83;  laments  loss  of  time 
after  Louisburg,  100-101;  his 
eagerness  to  pillage  French  habi 
tants,  101;  destroys  settlements 
in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  103- 
104;  returns  to  England,  104; 
appearance  of,  105;  his  tempera 
ment,  105;  his  unfortunate  criti 
cisms,  106-108;  ordered  to  attack 
Quebec,  120;  awaits  Amherst's 
co-operation,  156;  death  of,  157. 

Worcester,  Amherst  halts  a  day  at, 
no;  celebrates  the  fall  of  New 
France,  186. 

Wyandots,  attack  Cuyler's  expedi 
tion,  228. 


Yarmouth,  Lady,  her  connection  with 
Amherst's  appointment,  59  note; 
her  remarks  on  the  capture  of 
Louisburg,  90. 

York,  the  Duke  of,  324. 


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